Anticipation has been building on both the right and the left for the launch of an AI tool designed specifically for the political market. On the fundraising side, the thinking is that AI can streamline certain processes and help reduce the need for scarce, hard-to-acquire labor.
One side of the aisle will see the unveiling at Netroots Nation of a tool that aims to do just that. A partnership with Higher Ground Labs and Mike Nellis’ Authentic has birthed Quiller, a tool to help generate fundraising emails, and then code them for distribution.
It’s not the only HGL-backed AI company. Chorus AI is also appearing at Netroots in Chicago.
Quiller is billing itself as a tool to help save money for those looking for more craft in their copy, and free up agency or campaign staff for other tasks. Or at least that’s the goal, with the added bonus of it being a left-only product that helps lift all users’ boats by essentially learning on the job.
“It costs a lot of money to hire a good digital agency. It’s cheaper and easier to scam and scare people,” said Nellis. “[Quiller] makes it a lot more accessible to folks who previously didn’t have the time to write narrative-driven content. If we build a tool that will empower them to do that, the sky’s the limit. At the end of the day, I want a whole lot of local candidates to use this tool because they’re going to be able to do a whole lot more with a lot less.”
Launching a SaaS product successfully might inspire some practitioners to think about an exit, but Nellis said this effort is more about the cause: ”I’m thinking about it less from an exit strategy, and thinking about it more like, ‘How do we build the next ActBlue? How do we build the next Mobilize?’”
Developing political tech that works for users and is profitable hasn’t been an easy endeavor. But Nellis believes he’s hit upon an approach to help ensure the sustainability of Quiller, which is a separate company with its own CEO.
“One advantage Quiller has that other tech companies don’t is that I know exactly who my first customer is: me,” he said. “We’ve had the advantage of not having to go out and find a couple guinea pigs.”
Nellis also sees AI tools as a way to help alleviate staff burnout, which is an ongoing problem for those starting their careers in the industry. But he stressed that Quiller is not a tool intended to replace people and said he doesn’t intend to replace a single member of his team after building Quiller.
He’s also reacting to what practitioners lived through with tech platforms over the past decade: the warm, welcome embrace followed by the cold shoulder and the “restrictions.”
His prediction on what existing tech companies may do with their commercial AI offerings: “They’re going to crack down on political content — and we’re going to end up needing our own solutions.”
