--- title: "Authorities Investigating AI Running for Mayor in Wyoming" description: "A Wyoming man wants an AI named VIC to be on Cheyenne's mayoral ballot. Authorities in the state are questioning the AI's legality." date: "2024-06-13" modified: "2024-06-13" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-investigation-running-mayor-wyoming" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai policies" - "american politics" - "the digest" --- # Authorities Investigating AI Running for Mayor in Wyoming ![A Wyoming man wants an AI named VIC to be on Cheyenne's mayoral ballot. Authorities in the state are questioning the AI's legality.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Crown VIC An AI chatbot named VIC, or Virtually Integrated Citizen, is trying to make it onto the ballot in this year's mayoral election for Wyoming's capital city of Cheyenne. But [as reported by ]()*[Wired](),* Wyoming's secretary of state is battling against VIC's legitimacy as a candidate — and now, an investigation is underway. According to *Wired*, VIC, which was built on OpenAI's GPT-4 and trained on thousands of documents gleaned from Cheyenne council meetings, was created by Cheyenne resident and library worker Victor Miller. Should VIC win, Miller told *Wired* that he'll serve as the bot's "meat puppet," operating the AI but allowing it to make decisions for the capital city. And why should VIC run? According to its creator: paperwork! "My campaign promise," Miller told *Wired*, "is he's going to do 100 percent of the voting on these big, thick documents that I'm not going to read and that I don't think people in there right now are reading." (Also, VIC is a "he," apparently.) Unfortunately for the AI and its — his? — meat puppet, however, they've already made some political enemies, most notably Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray. As Gray, who has challenged the legality of the bot, told *Wired* in a statement, all mayoral candidates need to meet the requirements of a "qualified elector." This "necessitates being a real person," Gray argues. And VIC, of course, is not a real boy. ## Mayorbot Laramie County attorney Brad Lund, who's working on the investigation, [told the local *Wyoming Tribune Eagle* newspaper]() that the matter should be concluded by the first week of July, when ballot documents are due to go public. "Ultimately," Lund told the *Tribune Eagle*, "Wyoming law will decide the matter." But VIC's legal battle may not be its only obstacle. Per *Wired*, it's also run amuck with OpenAI, which says the AI violates the company's "policies against political campaigning." (Miller told *Wired* that he'll move VIC to Meta's open-source Llama 3 model if need be, which seems a bit like VIC will turn into a different candidate entirely.) VIC wouldn't be the first effort to put AI in positions of political leadership. Back in 2022, a [new political group]() dubbed "The Synthetic Party" emerged in Denmark, touting an AI chatbot dubbed "Leader Lars" as the party's figurehead. But making a chatbot mayor, if still theoretically, is rife with practical and ethical landmines. Like feeble humans, AI programs make mistakes; that the AI isn't human could also confuse normal routes of political accountability. It's also often [unclear]() how and why AI models come to the decisions that they do, which doesn't exactly facilitate public trust. In any case, like any politician, VIC is campaigning on in the face of scrutiny. "I'm running for mayor to bring innovative technology," the bot "told" the *Tribune Eagle*, "and data-driven decision-making to Cheyenne." **More AI:** [*Official NYC Chatbot Encouraging Small Businesses to Break the Law*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()