Rep. Dean Phillips, the Minnesota Democrat running a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, wants you to know he’s really into artificial intelligence. At a Thursday campaign event in New Hampshire with former tech executive and failed presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Phillips declared, “I will be the first AI president in American history!” Earlier in the week, he rolled out a chatbot called Dean.Bot that answers questions from voters using AI technology and even mimics his voice — one of the first known instances of an American political campaign using AI. And he’s cautioning voters against government overregulation of AI, arguing that “if you do not understand it, all you want to do is regulate it.”
AI is a relatively new hobbyhorse for Phillips. As New York Magazine reports, Phillips has never shown substantial interest in the issue in Congress nor did he discuss it during an interview announcing his campaign in October. Rather, his heightened interest in the subject — and his advocacy for protecting the AI sector from excessive red tape — appears to have emerged shortly after he started making friends with AI magnates and other tech moguls late last year. Phillips says he talks on the phone to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose former chief of staff co-founded the main super PAC backing Phillips. That super PAC has received millions from well-heeled techies in Silicon Valley.
A lot of his ideas are better suited for the GOP than for a Democrat who claims to be best positioned to bring “change” to Washington.
Phillips’ embrace of AI underscores the strange, rudderless nature of his campaign. The best reason for a quixotic White House run is to lobby for a big, important idea or distinct ideology. Even if a campaign is doomed, with smart messaging a gadfly candidate can help build movement energy around a policy idea. (Think: former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s laser focus on climate change in the 2020 Democratic primaries.) Phillips seems to be doing the opposite — embracing a motley assortment of policy ideas in a gimmicky manner, and getting no traction for any of them in the process. And what’s worse is that a lot of his ideas are better suited for the GOP than for a Democrat who claims to be best positioned to bring “change” to Washington.
Calling Phillips a long-shot candidate is an understatement: The man has no chance. He’s a previously obscure congressman with no legislative accomplishments of note who entered the race just a few months before the primaries. He has poured tons of effort into winning New Hampshire, even though the state’s primary is unsanctioned this year and its delegates won’t even be counted toward the nomination. In national polls, he is averaging 3% support among Democratic primary voters. So why is he persisting?
I’m not sure he knows the answer. But the AI schtick is the latest disconcerting evidence that he seems acutely sensitive to the interests of new, rich friends. The substance of the position is just as concerning — his signals that Democrats should be wary of regulating AI too much because of all it offers. In reality AI is a gift to capital, completely unregulated, and is benefiting from the spectacle that many early tech innovations have, where they appear almost magical to the layman. AI deserves scrutiny from the government in a manner that is commensurate with its capacity to disrupt our economy and society; if anything, the real risk right now is underregulation. Counseling voters that regulation could “stifle innovation” might sound like a politics of change, but in reality it most serves corporate interests.
Phillips’ AI pivot is only the latest gimmick. As I recently wrote, Phillips has gotten cozy with hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who announced he was donating $1 million to Phillips’ super PAC — and permitted that relationship to scramble his personality. Last week, he sprinted to scrub the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from his campaign website to cater to Ackman’s political views. He also floated the idea of Ackman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk as potential Cabinet members in his future administration during a conversation with them hosted on the platform X. In December, he decided to say he supported “Medicare for all” as a policy — while objecting to key provisions of the proposal (such as outlawing most private insurance) that are crucial to its implementation; it looked like a bid to pick up progressives disenchanted with Biden without alienating the kinds of plutocrats he seems fond of courting. It’s unclear how this all adds up into a coherent vision.
Phillips’ central case for running seems to be that Biden isn’t “electable” against Trump because of Biden’s poor standing in the polls. It’s perfectly reasonable — and enriching for the party — for a candidate to challenge Biden with a clear case for an alternative. But Phillips has failed to make the case for why he would be more electable — and what the point of electing him would be.
