FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The Murphy Campaign for Congress in Virginia’s 9th District is a People-First campaign, one that aims to place the Americans of Southwest Virginia squarely in focus above all else as we build a future we all deserve. We are pleased to formally announce that we will be a people-powered campaign that rejects AI content generation, 100%. We commit to using only human expertise, creators, and work. 

Our People-First Policy & Zero-AI Generation Commitment

1. Zero AI-Generated Content: All campaign communications, policy documents, public statements, speeches, graphics, videos, print material, clothing, mailing, & social posts will be drafted, reviewed, & produced by human writers, artists, and creators. We will ask all who work with our campaign to commit to this as well. The People must be placed first.

2. Limitation & Rejection of AI Tools: In places where we can opt out of AI workflows and generation, we will, and in instances of AI being injected into services or tech infrastructure, we will not use the generative capabilities of such tools. If all workflows within an app/service are AI-generation, we simply won’t use that service.

Why are we making this commitment?

Over the past year, the economy has reached a tipping point: more than a million people laid off, with shutdowns endangering the lives and security of millions more. This economy is not working at all. The relentless march of automation and algorithmic decision‑making has turned the economy into a “captive machine” that increasingly separates itself from the human element that should drive it. 

We understand this will be hard to achieve, especially as AI content becomes more and more difficult to discern what is real and what is AI-generated, but we will strive to make sure everything we put out is human created and true.

There has been an unprecedented and unregulated explosion of AI integration. As a software developer who has worked with AI, I can confidently tell you that while there is potential for current AI algorithms (e.g., large language models, LLMs) to be very useful, they will never be artificial superintelligence (ASI) or even artificial general intelligence (AGI) at their current rate. As such, their integration within products has yielded flawed outcomes.

There is increasing speculation that the AI economy is a bubble, larger than the Dot-com and 2008 bubbles by multiple magnitudes. Further, these billion-dollar companies have built their generative AI technologies off of stolen works and labor done by human creators and experts. Digital privacy in the US has been under attack for years, and AI’s abuse of copyright, of people’s own social media data, personal messages and beyond is an absolute disgrace.

Bettering digital privacy protections is among this campaign’s policy platforms. Excessive usage of AI technology also poses serious concerns regarding its energy and water consumption at data centers. Many have already felt these impacts through increased electric bills, another attack on affordability for our communities and another issue we commit to addressing.

Despite its flaws, AI is already starting to displace jobs. It will start with office workers where computers are used daily, but it will soon be everywhere if we do not get ahead of this. Companies are already exploring replacing artists, writers, journalists, medical caregivers. We need humans, our neighbors, in these roles, not corporate-sponsored machines. 

Again, we are proud to stand by Our People-First Policy & Zero-AI Generation Commitment. We encourage others to follow suit.