Campaigns are buying ChatGPT seats while OpenAI’s election bans slip under the same prompts
Thirty-nine U.S. congressional candidates reported paying for an OpenAI subscription this election cycle, the Washington Post found in campaign finance disclosures, according to a Slashdot paraphrase of the Post.
Around 30 political action committees and parties also reported payments to OpenAI. The Republican National Committee ranked as the company’s largest political spender at roughly $9,700, the analysis found.
OpenAI says campaigns may not use its tools to generate ads or targeted persuasion. Two candidates said explicitly in filings they had used the subscription for advertising. Another disclosed using AI to draft or personalize political messages or create synthetic media, AI-made images or video, without naming the software.
Political consultants say the disclosures understate how many candidates use ChatGPT and other AI tools. Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist, told the Post that people mostly use it to write emails, ad copy, and scripts, and that no one is going to go around saying they are using AI.
The American Association of Political Consultants surveyed consultants earlier this year. Fifty-seven percent reported using AI daily, up from 34 percent a year earlier.
Post tests found ChatGPT inconsistently enforcing its own bans. In late July and early August, a prompt for targeted fundraising texts to moms produced tailored copy. The same prompt this week got a refusal.
Fundraising emails for a specific candidate sometimes went through and, later the same day, did not.
Those bans are company rules, not statutes. Katie Harbath of Anchor Change, a former Meta executive, told the Post that consultants expect more AI-generated ads to move to super PACs as Election Day approaches, the way negative ads already do.
Paid seats sit under soft bans that do not hold still. The meter is already in the filings. The refusals are not.
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