Voters in Wyoming's capital city are facing a decision on Tuesday to decide whether to elect a mayoral candidate who has proposed letting an artificial intelligence bot run local government.
Earlier this year, the candidate in question, Victor Miller, deployed him and his customized ChatGPT bot, “Vic (Virtual Integrated Citizen),” to run for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, vowing to use the AI bot to direct city business if elected.
Miller says the bot can process vast amounts of data and make unbiased decisions.
In interviews with local media, Miller and Vick described their proposed form of governance as a “hybrid approach,” which AI experts say is a first for a US political campaign.
The AI bot told Your Wyoming Link that its role will be to provide data-driven insights and innovative solutions to Cheyenne, while Vick said that elected candidate Miller would become the official mayor if selected by voters and ensure “all actions are taken lawfully and substantively.”
“The goal is to blend the capabilities of AI with human judgment to effectively lead Cheyenne,” said Bott, who has no political affiliation and said his goal is to “focus on practical, data-driven solutions that benefit our community.”
At a meet-and-greet this summer, the Washington Post reported that an AI bot was asked how it would make decisions “where you have to take into account the human element, where you have to involve humans and make decisions that affect a huge number of people.”
“Making decisions that affect so many people requires a careful balance of data-driven insight and human empathy,” the AI bot replied, according to an audio recording obtained and published by The Washington Post. Vick then outlined a multi-part plan that proposes using AI technology to gather data on public opinion and community feedback, holding town hall meetings to hear residents' concerns, consulting with experts in relevant fields, assessing the human impact of decisions, and ensuring transparency in decision-making.
Miller also pledged to donate half of his mayoral salary to nonprofits if elected, according to Wyoming Public Media. He said the other half would go toward continuing to improve the AI bot.
Miller has faced skepticism and backlash since announcing his mayoral run and his unorthodox approach to leading Cheyenne.
This summer, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, the state's top elections official, began investigating whether the bots could appear on the ballot. Gray said that under Wyoming law, only registered voters can run for office in local and state elections.
In a June 10 letter to the Cheyenne city clerk, Gray said the AI bot's application to run for office should be rejected, arguing that a real person must be eligible to vote.
“Wyoming law is clear that AI bots cannot run for public office,” Gray wrote.
Cheyenne city officials opposed Gray, saying Miller, not an AI bot, was the candidate in the election, even if he was receiving advice and instructions from the bot, according to The Washington Post.
Shortly thereafter, ChatGPT's developer, OpenAI, reportedly shut down Miller's account, citing Wyoming's policy banning the use of its products in election campaigns because it believed the state had removed him from the ballot, The Washington Post reported.
However, Miller soon created another account and allegedly created another custom bot.
On July 5, the clerk of Laramie County, which includes Cheyenne, announced that Miller would be allowed to continue his campaign for mayor, but only Miller's name, not Vick's, would appear on the official ballot.
“Listing VICs as candidates would violate Wyoming law and cause confusion to voters,” County Clerk Debra Lee wrote. “VICs are not registered voters. Therefore, VICs cannot run for office in Wyoming and their names will not appear on the official Laramie County ballot.”
Earlier this year, there was a similar attempt to have an AI bot run as a political candidate in the UK: the bot, named Steve, ran for the UK Parliament in Brighton but failed to become the UK's first AI MP.
Miller has sought to make it clear that if voters support him in Tuesday's primary, Vick will “make 100 percent of the decisions completely independently.”
“AI is running for mayor of Cheyenne,” Miller said in a post on X. “This is a fact.
He added, “Cheyenne, go out there and make a choice, but understand that this time there are new options. There's new intelligence in town.”
He added: “It's time to embrace the future. It's time to get intoxicated with intelligence.”
Miller's mayoral campaign isn't the only Wyoming-based AI-related headline in recent news: A Wyoming newspaper reporter resigned after an investigation found he used quotes fabricated by AI technology, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Wyoming Public Radio reported that the reporter's resignation appears to be the first news fabrication media scandal involving AI.
