The last decade has seen seismic electoral change. In a time of heightened polarization, partisanship, and disinformation, what drives the American voter to support a candidate or organization, and a question top of mind for all (especially those in the nonprofit and political sectors), what is motivating political voters and donors? Enter the dawn of a new era in politics – the use of generative AI and machine learning, putting political messaging and targeting on steroids. With ChatGPT released just 15 short months ago, we’re still learning how it will impact our daily lives. But when one considers how AI may threaten our fragile democracy, much of the debate lacks creativity. With the use of fake images, audio, and video in circulation as early as 2014, Americans have been conditioned to question a candidate’s authenticity more often than not. It’s safe to say the future will be much more interesting with experts agreeing the potential impacts of AI aren’t all negative. We can draw some fairly straight lines between the current capabilities of AI tools and real-world outcomes that, by the standards of current public understanding, seem truly inspiring. In this session, we’ll discuss the prominent role AI is playing in modern-day politics which include both predictive analytics and generative AI. We’ll also dive into what researches and practitioners have uncovered (both varied and nuanced) and include a number of factors, with geographic and generational distinctions being top of the list. Heather Philpot is Executive Vice President for Moore, a leading constituent experience management company focused on the integration of the donor and advocate experience across all platforms, channels, and devices. Most recently, Heather was a Vice President at Tunnl, a linear media optimization and data analysis firm, where she was responsible for the growth and strategic development of the public affairs and advocacy verticals. Prior to that, she was Executive Vice President of Data Strategy and Operations for Data Axle, where she led sales, strategy, and product innovation for the company’s cooperative database, Apogee. Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, Philpot is a graduate of the University of New Mexico and currently lives in downtown Washington, DC. Learn more about the JHU MA in Communication program: https://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/graduate/ma-communication/