Independent Virginia House candidate Bentley Hensel created a chatbot using artificial intelligence to mimic his opponent in a debate.
Hensel is racing against Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who has won every election of Virginia’s 8th District since 2014. Beyer ran unopposed in this year’s Democratic primary and has no plans to debate. Independents often do not qualify for debates with party candidates, but Hensel, along with fellow independent candidate David Kennedy, will be debating Beyer’s policies on Oct. 17, less than three weeks from Election Day.
The chatbot is available to Virginia voters and gives timed answers to prompted questions. However, it drafts its answers “using only publicly available information from Beyer’s website and policy positions, with transparency as a core value,” according to the Hensel campaign.
“While Rep. Beyer’s campaign has not contacted us regarding the upcoming debate, we remain committed to providing voters with an opportunity to hear from all candidates, even if that means incorporating AI when a candidate chooses not to attend,” a spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “Our goal is to ensure transparency and accountability in the race, especially when incumbents like Rep. Beyer opt out of further debates.”
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The Washington Examiner reached out to Beyer’s office for comment.
All four candidates, including Republican candidate Jerry Torres, were last together during a Sept. 3 campaign forum sponsored by the Arlington County Civic Federation. They were all given time to speak but did not debate on policy questions.