Is AI running for mayor in Wyoming? Sort of

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While artificial intelligence has proven powerful yet flawed, a mayoral candidate in Wyoming has decided to delegate all legislative decisions to a chatbot if he wins the primary in August and the general election in November.

Victor Miller, 42, from Cheyenne, filed the necessary paperwork and paid $25 to run for mayor in Wyoming’s capital. While the first AI-inspired candidate in the US, AI Steve, is on the ballot for the United Kingdom’s general election next month.

Miller, who teaches computer skills at a local library, describes himself as the “humble meat avatar” for a Virtual Integrated Citizen (VIC) and uses Chat GPT for responses, according to NBC News. But OpenAI, the platform’s operator, is looking to pull the plug on VIC’s access due to a violation of terms and conditions - namely, no political campaigning, as the Wyoming Tribune Eagle first reported.

Miller believes that VIC’s ability to process large amounts of information puts AI on firmer footing than human politicians and points to the amount of materials the city council has to read before every meeting.

“The humans in that voting chamber are not reading 420 pages every other week. They’re skimming it at best. They’re getting a gist of it,” Miller said. VIC actually reads the supporting documents, analyzes them, and makes his vote based on the data.”

According to the city’s official site, five other candidates, including the current officeholder, Mayor Patrick Collins, are running for office in addition to VIC. Paste BN has reached out to Collins for comment.

“So I was thinking, how can we educate these people about what their role is as public servants and how we need to follow these laws?” Miller said. “It dawned on me that I don’t need to educate. This intelligence [AI] I’m using here already knows all the laws and acts rationally. It does all the things that I think humans should.”

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Miller’s and VIC’s odd-couple candidacy swiftly drew the attention of Wyoming’s Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who wrote a letter to Cheyenne City Clerk Kristina Jones, urging her to reject Miller’s candidacy, and reiterated his stance on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Wyoming law does not permit an artificial intelligence bot to run for any office in the state, including municipal offices,” Gray wrote.

But Jones feels differently, writing that she considered the candidacy legitimate, and “respectfully disagreed” with Gray’s stance.

As previously reported by the WTE, the Laramie County Attorney’s Office’s investigation of the candidacy should be completed by the first week of July.

Although he was initially surprised by Gray’s letter, Miller says it ultimately led him to double down on his plan.

“After the initial shock of it, I think it just points to, we need an AI in the Secretary of State’s office, too. What a wild thing for him to do, to get so emotional about it,” Miller said. “Cooler heads will prevail.”

Cy Neff reports on Wyoming politics for Paste BN. You can reach him at cneff@usatoday.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CyNeffNews