Nancy Pelosi has criticized Scott Wiener's campaign for its use of an AI chatbot, ConnieChan.ai, which was deployed to mock his opponent Connie Chan's political record. Pelosi, who has endorsed Chan, condemned the chatbot on Thursday, joined by fellow California Rep. Zoe Lofgren and eight other female Democrats.
Chan's campaign asserted that the chatbot exhibits racist and sexist undertones, particularly in its responses to queries regarding her accent and citizenship status. Chan campaign spokesperson Ian Krager stated that Wiener "can’t erase the concerns it raised among San Franciscans about his character and judgment." He accused Wiener’s campaign of mocking an immigrant woman of color before doubling down only to "reverse course and shrug it off as simply ‘missing the mark.’"
Wiener's campaign initially responded Thursday by stating Chan was trying to deflect from her "awful record of obstruction and inaction," claiming her camp "bombarded the chatbot with repeated malicious questions." He also called it "ironic" that Pelosi would express concern about AI, given her alleged role in the failure of his first major AI legislation.
The chatbot site stated, "I’m Connie, the world’s first AI trained to say ‘no’ to anything you ask." Wiener's campaign argued the bot was created to engage with the "AI craze" and educate voters on Chan's history of "blocking progress" in San Francisco.
Screenshots shared by Chan's campaign appear to show the chatbot previously responding to prompts about her accent with phrases like, "I’m afraid my San Francisco accent is so thick I can barely understand myself." Currently, the bot redirects such queries to topics like education and public safety. Wiener's campaign argues that Chan's supporters deliberately prompted the bot to elicit offensive responses, attempting to "harvest" such content as a bad-faith tactic to circumvent its safeguards. Pelosi condemned the use of AI for ridicule, calling it a "gross misuse of technology" that undermines women's agency and reinforces sexist tropes.