horizon: AI agents interacting with voters by phone to try to persuade them to vote for GOP candidates, one Republican operative tells us.By contrast, Democratic operatives — many wary of privacy risks and worried what AI could mean for their jobs — have been much slower to adopt the technology in their campaigns.The party, with few exceptions, hasn't been using AI in ads.The Democratic National Committee has barred staffers from using ChatGPT and Claude, though it does allow them to use Gemini to code, analyze data and do other tasks.A DNC official said Gemini is allowed under a new policy because it integrates well with the committee's existing tools. The official said the staff's AI usage has increased this year under the policy."There are many Democrats who are using AI, but there's also a lot of skepticism," Democratic strategist Larry Huynh told Axios.

"I don't see the same level of skepticism on the Republican side."A survey last month by the American Association of Political Consultants found that 64% of Republican consultants used AI daily in their work, compared to 49% of Democrats.Zoom in: Aaru, a company that tries to predict human behavior, is among the tools Republicans are using. The platform can replicate pools of voters with AI agents. Those bots can then be polled on their views — such as what they think about a particular candidate, or how President Trump is handling an issue.Republicans who've used Aaru say it does a good job of designing what a universe of voters in a particular area looks like.

And it's much faster and cheaper than traditional polling.It can also test the effectiveness of campaign ads by predicting how voters may respond to them.Republicans also are using MiroFish, a platform that forecasts public opinion using simulated people.Campaign operatives can load in polling data and news stories and then ask it to predict how voters' actions might be affected by events — such as the Iran war concluding.EyesOver, a program that scans millions of social media sites per day to identify real-time trends in public sentiment, also is rising in popularity,"It's crazy accurate at predicting trends," one GOP strategist said.Zoom out: The White House's digital shop sets the tone for the GOP's aggressive approach, firing off AI-generated social media posts boosting Trump and blasting his critics.The National Republican Senatorial Committee is using AI to create ads, analyze data and identify new small donors, according to an NRSC spokesperson.Those ads include more than a half-dozen spots targeting Democrats — including a video game-themed ad blasting Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan.Republicans say the AI-generated ads are cheaper and easier to make than traditional commercials.Yes, but: Some operatives warn there are risks in using AI to make ads, particularly if campaigns create deepfakes.They say most voters now can tell what's real and what's not — and that campaigns that manipulate reality to try to mislead voters risk a backlash.However provocative such ads might be, the operatives say, they could annoy voters who dismiss them as AI slop inundating their social media feeds — or worse, leave voters thinking those behind the ads are dishonest. Mike Collins, a GOP candidate for U.S.

Senate in Georgia, released a deepfake ad in November depicting Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff expressing support for a government shutdown."They say it'll hurt farmers, but I wouldn't know. I've only seen a farm on Instagram," Ossoff is portrayed as saying.But Ossoff never said that. His campaign called the ad an act of deception, adding, "Georgians don't take well to people who lie to them."Collins defended the ad, saying: "Our team is doing it just like the White House."