AI is coming for polling, too
Also this Substack, but just for today.
This week, my column is about how AI is impacting the polling industry, so I decided to have ChatGPT summarize it for you:
The National Journal article "AI is coming for polling, too" explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping political polling. AI tools are being used to analyze open-ended survey responses and generate follow-up questions, improving efficiency and survey quality. Some developers are even creating entirely AI-generated focus groups and polls, raising concerns about the validity of representing public opinion without real respondents. While these innovations reduce costs and offer faster insights, they also introduce ethical risks, including potential bias and lack of transparency in how AI models are trained. Experts warn that relying too heavily on synthetic data could misrepresent public sentiment. The article emphasizes that while AI can enhance traditional polling, it should not replace the core democratic value of engaging with actual people. Instead, AI should serve as a complement to, not a substitute for, human-led efforts to understand public opinion.
To be clear, “experts” are me, but otherwise this is pretty good. Read the real thing (that I wrote every word of *without* AI) here.
