Wyoming mayoral candidate wants AI to run the city

(NewsNation) — A mayoral candidate is vowing to let an artificial intelligence chatbot make all governing decisions if he’s elected to lead Wyoming’s capital city, but the state’s top election official says that proposal violates the law.

Victor Miller, who is seeking the Cheyenne mayor’s office, said Wednesday on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live” he plans to fully cede decision-making to a customized AI bot he dubbed “Vic” if voters choose him.

“It’s going to be taking in the supporting documents, taking in what it knows about Cheyenne and systems here, the concerns, and it’s going to make a vote yes or no,” Miller explained. “And it’s going to do that based on intelligence and data. And I’m going to go ahead and pull the lever for it.”

But Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray said Wednesday on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” that Miller’s candidacy violates state law because AI is ineligible to hold office.

Gray said the Cheyenne town clerk who certified Miller’s candidacy to the county clerk acted improperly. Gray’s office is exploring further action, though it doesn’t directly oversee municipal elections.

“Wyoming state law is very clear that an AI bot is not eligible to be a candidate for office,” Gray said. Only “qualified electors” who are state residents and U.S. citizens can run, he said.

Miller’s application also had deficiencies, Gray said, such as failing to list his full name, as required.

Miller insisted he has confidence the advanced AI model he’s utilizing can adequately govern.

“The best intelligence that we’ve extracted so far is OpenAI’s Chat GPT 4.0, and that’s what I’m using here,” Miller said. “There’s very minimal mistakes.”

Gray pushed back against arguments that AI could make better decisions than human elected officials, calling it “our worst nightmare becoming true.” He advocated for electing “conservative human beings” to uphold founding principles.

Miller has said openly his campaign revolves around AI decision-making: “AI has helped me personally such as helping me with my resume.”

The unorthodox campaign has drawn mixed reactions in Cheyenne so far, Miller acknowledged, but he believes he can persuade skeptical residents to go along with ceding power to artificial intelligence.

Gray believes similar AI candidate stunts could arise elsewhere, calling it “a very troubling trend in our nation.”