🔱  Sign up for a free demo today to see how the latest AI and digital advocacy tools can transform your work.

2 Minute Read

Last week we told you about the secretive study that proved AI can change minds 3-6x better than humans. Today, let's talk about what this tells us about the future of advocacy.

The most important thing to note about the study is that AI bots personalized arguments by analyzing users' post histories to infer demographic details like age, gender, political orientation, and ethnicity. The bots then tailored arguments for the specific person based on this information, and used this information to successfully persuade real people to change their minds on controversial topics.

Think about what AI had access to in that Reddit experiment: just public comment history. Now imagine what's possible with the data ecosystem surrounding legislative advocacy.

Legislatures Are A Data Goldmine

Consider everything that's already public about a member of Congress or any state legislator. Here are just a few of the countless examples:

🔱 Every floor speech going back to their first term—searchable, transcribed, ready for AI analysis of language patterns and priority signals

🔱 Committee hearing questions that reveal specific concerns, knowledge gaps, and the issues that genuinely activate them versus the ones they're just checking boxes on

🔱 Influencer profiles showing career trajectories, alma maters, previous employers, professional networks, and countless other forms of information about the people who have the decision-maker's ear

🔱 Voting records showing not just yes/no, but co-sponsorships, amendments offered, and procedural votes that telegraph real priorities

🔱 Media appearances including podcast transcripts where they're more candid about reasoning and personal values than they are in official statements

🔱 District event coverage revealing how they talk to constituents versus colleagues—and which arguments they lean on when they need to persuade

🔱 Campaign finance data mapping which industries, regions, and issue coalitions they're closest to

AI can not only read this data—it can find the patterns in the data. It can learn that Senator X frames certain economic issues through small business impact, and other economic issues through the lens of consumer costs. It can learn that Representative Y's healthcare positions consistently filter through a rural access lens. That Congressman Z's language measurably shifts when discussing his military-heavy district.

Then it can generate advocacy messages that feel like they were written by someone (or something) who truly gets that member—because the AI does get the member.

This Isn't "Micro-Targeting." This Is Something Else. And It's The Future of Advocacy.

Micro-targeting today in public affairs typically means one message for Democrats and one message for Republicans. Sometimes smart advocates include district or state level impact in their messaging. But the future of AI-driven advocacy is something much deeper.

What the Reddit study demonstrated is adaptive persuasion. The AI doesn't just pick the right topic—it identifies the exact framing, language, evidence type, and emotional appeal that a specific individual is most likely to find compelling based on their entire public record.

The output could be used in any number of contexts including:

🔱 Custom ads for every member that drive action better than anything we've seen.

🔱 Lobbyist talking points that give advocates a huge edge during in-person meetings.

🔱 Grassroots and grasstops messaging that connects personally with each member.

This is not some hazy future in the distance. It can be done now.

In fact ask yourself—how do you know your competition isn't doing this already?

Three Ways To Operationalize This Email

🔱 Perfect your one-to-one targeting strategies so you can be in a position to deploy adaptive persuasion at the person-by-person level.

🔱 Get your creative production house in order. If you can only afford one ad for your campaign, you can't afford the future of customized, AI-driven advocacy.

🔱 Buckle up.

🔱 If you're enjoying this content, please consider forwarding this email to a colleague or friend. 

🔱 If you're not already a subscriber, please sign up here to stay up to date on the latest developments in political technology.

🔱 If you have suggestions for future newsletters or any other feedback, we'd love to hear from you.