Democratic Senate candidates engage in last forum; Bobby Rush uses AI to make endorsement
One campaign is using artificial intelligence in very inventive ways to try to convince voters to get to the polls on primary day next Tuesday.
While the Democrats, looking to replace Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), met for one final time before the election on Monday.
Three Democrats are putting their political career on the line, all to replace Durbin. On Monday, Senate candidates zeroed in on campaign dollars.
In their final forum, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly took direct aim at Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who touts that she doesn't take corporate PAC money. Kelly asked about the huge sums coming from her billionaire boss.
"One billionaire family has donated 73% of what you have received, so are you obligated to them?" Kelly said.
In their final debate, airing Monday night on WTTW, funding campaigns remained the number one topic.
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi received, then donated away, money from a Palantir executive—a company with major ICE contracts.
"Congressman, you did not even think about returning the funding until the public called for you to do so," Stratton said.
"When you presided over the Democratic Governors Association, under your leadership, the DLGA solicited and received tens of thousands from Corecivic, the largest private prison operator in the U.S. that operated the ICE Broadview Center," Krishnamoorthi responded.
Meanwhile, former Congressman Bobby Rush is breaking new ground with his endorsement. An AI replica of his voice before his cancer diagnosis was used in his endorsement video for Jesse Jackson Jr. in the 2nd Congressional District.
"A really good use of this type of technology because somebody that has lost their voice or lost a significant portion of their voice is now given a new voice," said Nick Barrerio, chief forensic analyst with Principle Forensics.
Full transparency and approval from Rush himself gave authenticity to a technology so many are skeptical of, according to Barreiro. However, it opens the door to a future where families of beloved politicians can start licensing endorsements.
"Can whoever owns the rights to that person to that likeness sell that and monetize that ... and now you can have Ronald Reagan endorsing candidates from beyond the grave. I mean, that's almost inevitable, right ... it's going to happen," Barreriro said.
That, Barreriro said, is a very likely legal battle we will see not too far down the road as politics and AI are on a collision course of sorts.