Brad Parscale, the digital guru behind Donald Trump's surprise victory in the 2016 election, has been promoted to head of his 2020 campaign. However, his work did not last long. His private life was exposed in public, and he later texted his friend that he was “feeling guilty” for helping Trump win after the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Since then, he has become an evangelist for the power of artificial intelligence to change the way Republican political campaigns operate. And his company is working toward President Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, seeking to help the presumptive Republican nominee take back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden.
Here's what you need to know about Parscale and his new role.
Parscale said his company will soon develop an app that uses AI to aid absentee ballot collection campaigns in the same way DoorDash and Grubhub drivers pick up dinner from restaurants and deliver it to customers. It is said that it will be introduced.
That led to work on the future president's 2016 election campaign. He was one of its first hires, spearheading an unconventional digital strategy that helped propel Trump to the White House in partnership with scandal-plagued Cambridge Analytica.
“I pretty much used Facebook to get Trump elected in 2016,” Parscale said in a 2022 podcast interview.
Mr. Parscale's influence increased in the wake of Mr. Trump's surprise victory. He was promoted to head of Trump's re-election effort and enjoyed celebrity status. Parscale, a towering 6-foot-8 figure with a Viking-style beard, was frequently seen taking selfies with Trump supporters and signing autographs at campaign rallies. .
Parscale was replaced as campaign manager shortly after his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had unexpectedly low turnout, infuriating President Trump.
Parscale did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about what he is doing for the Trump campaign. President Trump has called artificial intelligence “very frightening” and “dangerous,” but his campaign has avoided highlighting Parscale's role, saying in an emailed statement that the tools the artificial intelligence company offers He said he had no “involvement or use” of it.
Campaign finance records show companies associated with Parscale were paid to host websites, send emails and provide fundraising software and digital consulting.
The Biden campaign and the Democratic Party are also using AI. So far, they said they are primarily deploying the technology to help find and motivate voters and identify and overcome deceptive content.
Last April, Dunn invested $5 million in a company called AiAdvertising, which had previously acquired one of Parscale's companies under its former name. The San Antonio-based advertising firm also announced that Mr. Parscale will join as a strategic advisor and will be paid $120,000 in stock compensation and a monthly salary of $10,000.
“Boom!” Parscale tweeted. “(AiAdvertising) has finally automated the entire stake of the technology used in the 2016 election that changed the world.”
AiAdvertising has two key figures on its board: Texas investor Thomas Hicks Jr. (former RNC co-chairman and longtime hunting buddy of Donald Trump Jr.) and former Republican Congressman Jim Renacci. Added to the meeting. In January, Dunn provided an additional $2.5 million to AiAdvertising through his investment firm, and AiAdvertising said in a news release that the capital injection will help it “create more engaging and high-impact campaigns.”
Dunn declined to comment, and AiAdvertising did not respond to messages seeking comment.
In January, Parscale told an audience at a grassroots Christian event at a church in Pasadena, Calif., that his movement “has its own AI, creative large-scale language models and “We need to use our own AI to reach our audience from the original images.” You need distribution, your own email system, your own text message system, your own ability to run TV ads, and finally your own influencers. ”
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Burke reported from San Francisco. Associated Press national political reporter Steve Peoples in Washington and Associated Press researcher Rhonda Schaffner in New York contributed to this report.
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This article is part of “AI Campaign,” an Associated Press series examining the impact of artificial intelligence on the 2024 election cycle.
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Contact AP's global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/.
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