Most Political Consultants Are Using AI, Study Finds

Artificial intelligence is coming into its own in the politics business. 

A new study from 3D Strategic Research and Normington Petts commissioned by the American Association of Political Consultants found that a majority of political consultants – 59 percent – use AI for work at least a few times a week. Another 13 percent said they use the emerging tech a few times each month. 

The study is based on online responses from 200 current and lapsed AAPC members based in the United States, and has a margin of error of +/- 6.8 percentage points. Fifteen current AAPC members also participated in in-depth interviews as part of the study. The results of the study were first reported by Hotline.

The survey offers one of the latest signs that AI is increasingly being adopted by political consultants, despite lingering reluctance among some practitioners to fully embrace the tech. The survey found that while most consultants are already experimenting with AI, there are pervasive concerns about the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated insights and content, as well as fears of bias and misinformation.

The vast majority of those surveyed – 76 percent – reported using OpenAI’s ChatGPT, one of the first large language model AI to hit the mass market. Google’s Gemini came in a distant second place, with 28 percent of consultants naming it as their go-to AI.

For now, at least, a plurality of consultants – 32 percent –  are turning to AI for things like drafting proposals, presentations and other client material, according to the survey. Few are actually using the technology for generating creative content. 

Reluctance to Embrace AI Content

And there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for AI’s potential use in content creation. Instead, those surveyed said they believe the greatest opportunity for AI use in political consulting will be in summarizing or analyzing research, news and transcripts. 

In the runup to the 2024 election, many practitioners predicted that campaigns and consultants would race to adopt AI to assist in everything from content creation to email composition. But though there was some adoption, the tech didn’t take the political world by storm as some thought it would. 

A study released last week by the Democratic-aligned venture fund Higher Ground Labs found that, “in many cases, AI adoption was driven by individual staff experimentation rather than structured organizational implementation.”

The AAPC’s study largely backed up that finding. Only 9 percent of political consultants surveyed said that AI technologies played a “very significant role” in the 2024 election. Forty-three percent said that the tech played a “moderate role,” while just as many said that AI’s role in the 2024 cycle was “minimal.”

Despite the increasing use of AI by political consultants, most – 54 percent – said they don’t expect it to fundamentally change the future of political campaigns and consulting, according to the survey. Another 41 percent said that they believe the tech will radically transform the business in the years ahead.