If elected mayor, Victor Miller, 42, advised voters he would govern Cheyenne, Wyoming, a city of simply shy of 65,000 residents, by way of an AI chatbot modeled on OpenAI’s GPT-4. He named the chatbot, which he constructed himself, VIC, standing for Digital Built-in Citizen; Miller himself pledged to function a “meat avatar” finishing up VIC’s duties.
On Tuesday, 11,036 Laramie County residents solid votes for mayor; Miller and VIC (or VIC and Miller) obtained 327. The winner was second-term incumbent Patrick Collins, who obtained 6,286 votes.
“I’m actually heartened by the response I did get from the individuals who voted for me,” Miller advised Fortune. “I solely have a handful of household and buddies, so nearly all of these individuals are simply actual voters who don’t know me.”
In a tweeted assertion late Tuesday evening, Miller conceded his loss. “As the primary particular person to place synthetic intelligence immediately on the poll, providing voters the novel selection of AI governance, our marketing campaign has marked a historic second in politics and know-how,” he wrote.
Whereas “we” misplaced the election, he went on, “we’ve achieved one thing exceptional: we’ve launched the world to a brand new paradigm of governance and sparked essential discussions in regards to the position of AI in public administration.”
Man vs. machine
It was an uphill battle from the beginning for Miller and VIC, and the drama of his candidacy despatched shockwaves by way of the native authorities. Earlier this summer time, the county of Laramie was fast to make clear that, opposite to the denizens of nationwide information retailers claiming in any other case, an AI bot was not truly on the poll.
“Victor Miller, by way of numerous interviews and statements … has persistently maintained a distinction between himself as a ‘meat avatar’ and separate from the AI-program he chooses to name VIC,” Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee wrote in a July 5 press launch. “To permit VIC to be listed as a candidate would each violate Wyoming legislation and create voter confusion. VIC is just not a registered voter. Subsequently, VIC can not run for workplace in Wyoming and the identify doesn’t seem on Laramie County’s official poll.”
Initially, VIC’s identify was on the poll fairly than Miller’s. However that didn’t final lengthy; in June, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Grey despatched a letter to Cheyenne’s county clerk outlining their views on Miller’s candidacy.
“In Wyoming legislation, it’s the municipal clerk, not the secretary of state, who certifies candidates,” Grey advised Fortune. “Our workplace is tasked with guaranteeing uniform software of the election code, which is title 22.” Wyoming’s legislation is obvious, he mentioned. “To run for workplace, one should be a quote-unquote certified elector. That necessitates being an actual particular person.”
Grey mentioned he was first alerted to Miller’s candidacy by way of a criticism that got here by way of his workplace; he didn’t specify who complained, however mentioned it was not one other mayoral candidate. Grey spoke with Fortune on Wednesday, a day after the election was known as for incumbent Patrick Collins. Miller got here in fourth place. “The AI bot message didn’t resonate with voters,” Grey mentioned.
Miller is a libertarian; Grey, in the meantime, is a staunch republican who mentioned “our legal guidelines must imply one thing.” Grey known as Miller’s candidacy “unprecedented and really disturbing.” Mayor Collins didn’t return a number of requests for remark. (“There was no want for all that,” Miller advised Fortune of Grey’s investigation. “It type of showcases the downsides of getting people in positions of state energy.”)
An uphill battle
OpenAI, which powered VIC, shut down entry in June, CNN reported; an OpenAI spokesperson mentioned Miller’s actions violated its phrases of utilization, as ChatGPT is just not meant for political campaigning. On the time, Miller advised Wired that if OpenAI took VIC entry from him, he’d merely transfer to Meta’s open-source AI providing, Llama 3.
However after OpenAI shut VIC down, Miller labored shortly to assemble VIC 2.0 on the identical service, which labored identically. “OpenAI has pressured me to change into a freedom fighter within the open-source battle,” Miller advised Fortune. “And VIC 2.0 continues to be purposeful. Sam Altman has not discovered me at midnight corridors of OpenAI simply but.”
In his concession observe Tuesday, Miller introduced plans to develop a brand new group known as the Rational Governance Alliance, which he mentioned will construct off his marketing campaign’s most important thought: placing AI within the determination room. Ideally, the group will “create a framework the place AI can tackle the complete duty of decision-making in public workplace, with people serving because the authorized and bodily intermediaries required by present techniques.” In different phrases, future AI candidates gained’t must go it alone the best way Miller did.
“To all who imagine that the period of conventional politicians has reached its restrict, I prolong an invite to hitch us in ushering in a brand new age of rational governance,” Miller wrote. “The time has come to maneuver past the constraints of human bias and self-interest in public workplace.”
Managing the alliance can be a little bit of a profession change. Miller works for the native library in Cheyenne, each on the amenities and grounds crew in addition to on the pc crew, serving to patrons with their day-to-day tech woes.
“I’ve all the time been a tech and pc man—an early adopter when issues have been popping out,” he advised Fortune the day after conceding the race.
His first brush with LLMs got here just a few years in the past when he fed his resume to ChatGPT with a command to enhance upon it, which it did. “I assumed, okay, this isn’t only a parlor trick anymore,” he mentioned. “It’s an actual factor that may assist us in the actual world.”
The ‘twilight’ of human authorities
Working for mayor alongside VIC was a nexus of Miller’s two major pursuits, he mentioned: changing into extra literate in AI for his personal functions, and demanding the federal government change into extra responsive (he cited a current Sisyphean effort to entry public information from the state ombudsman). “I see lots of people in my life who tech has actually left behind, so I all the time have that at the back of my thoughts,” Miller mentioned. “I’m attempting to not let that occur to me.”
He mentioned VIC prioritizes transparency and openness—and bringing prosperity to Cheyenne. Trusting human politicians to have those self same values, Miller mentioned, is like “believing within the tooth fairy or Santa Claus.” (The 2024 presidential election is the “excellent showcase” of such dysfunctions. “The DNC is a complete clown present,” he mentioned.) Requested about VIC’s politics, he shrugged. “Type of what you’d anticipate,” he mentioned. “It’s a mainstream OpenAI mannequin; the literature on that tends to say it leans a little bit left popping out of Silicon Valley. Fairly pragmatic and centrist.”
Noting similarities between VIC’s beliefs and Miller’s, Fortune requested why he didn’t merely run himself—fairly than work as a “meat avatar.” Miller mentioned he thinks he’s simply as a lot a part of the issue. The human-run political system, as he sees it, is in its twilight, like monarchies and feudalism. On the horizon: the period of AI governance that “will carry prosperity—and hopefully peace.”
In any case, that’s why Miller’s apolitical. “Obama received me, Trump received me, all of them received me,” he mentioned. “AI received me too.” A pause. “I hope they don’t let me down.”
