Machine learning meets the campaign trail

By Evan Dawson,

Published November 6, 2025 at 5:21 PM EST

Three smiling men wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a bald man at left is wearing glasses, a beige blazer, plaid button-down shirt and green tie; a man at center has short grey hair and is wearing glasses, a black blazer and white button-down shirt; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a white button-down shirt.

1 of 2 — Kevin Spencer Beckford and Jeffrey Allan with host Evan Dawson on "Connections"

Kevin Spencer Beckford and Jeffrey Allan with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Thursday, November 6, 2025

Gary Pudup / WXXI News

A bald man with a grey goatee stands in front of a bookshelf filled with books and wears a blue button-down shirt and blue and yellow striped tie.

2 of 2 — Timothy Kneeland

Timothy Kneeland

Provided

AI political videos are already here — as Pittsford residents saw over the last month. An anti-Democrats ad featured AI "actors” warning against losing the character of Pittsford if Democrats won the election.

So why not use real people? And how common will AI “actors” be in the future? What should be done about it?

Our guests:

Jeffrey Allan, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Responsible Technology at Nazareth University
Timothy Kneeland, Ph.D., professor and director of history, politics, and law at Nazareth University
Kevin Spencer Beckford, managing partner of Finding Your Cup, LLC; operations executive; speaker; business turnaround strategist; and AI humanist