Ballot Bots — The Weekly

Zack Czajkowski (co-founder of Civly) joins host Ron Steslow to map the first election of the chatbot era and to ask why the party that once led on campaign technology is now the one recoiling from it. They begin with voters already asking chatbots how to vote, perhaps millions directly and tens of millions more nudged by AI summaries without even realizing it. Next, they turn to how campaigns are adapting, the next era of search-engine optimization, a fight over how a candidate appears across major AI models, and why Republican operatives have leaned in faster. Then they discuss the cultural resistance on the left, from a reflexive disdain for AI-assisted work to the class fault lines beneath the “slop” discourse in prestige media. In Politicology+, they break down the abrupt resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and the bipartisan praise trailing him out the door. POLITICOLOGY+ Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. Read Pax Machina: https://paxmachina.ai/welcome-to-pax-machina SPONSORS & PROMO CODES: https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8 Send your questions and ideas to [email protected] Ron Steslow on X: https://x.com/RonSteslow Zack Czajkowski on X: https://x.com/ZackCz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices