wire / 2026-08-09-a0ef
San Francisco congressional candidate pulls AI chatbot impersonating rival after backlash
Campaign ops built a chatbot to mock the opponent. It said things a human aide would have been fired for.
The facts
California state senator Scott Wiener used an AI chatbot to impersonate and mock rival Connie Chan in the race to replace Nancy Pelosi. The chatbot was widely condemned as racist and sexist by Pelosi and others, leading Wiener to remove the site and related billboards after public backlash.