As Debate Looms, Trump Says He Delivered a Speech Produced by AI, and That Speechwriters Are Doomed

"He goes, click, click, click, and like 15 seconds later, he shows me my speech, written so beautifully."

Only the Best AIs

Former president Donald Trump, who famously likes to have his assistant print out the news for him and doesn't use a computer, has seemingly discovered ChatGPT — which may not bode well for Thursday's presidential debate.

During an interview with crypto scammer and racist YouTuber Logan Paul earlier this month, Trump said that he had a "speech rewritten by AI."

"One of the top people, he said, ‘Oh, you're going to make a speech?’ ‘Yeah.’ He goes, click, click, click, and like 15 seconds later, he shows me my speech, written so beautifully," he added. "I said, 'I'm going to use this sucker.'"

Trump also argued that the industry made up of "these wonderful speechwriters" will soon be "gone."

Of course, it's possible that a hallucination-filled and dubiously sourced speech generated by an AI actually would mark a significant improvement over Trump's infamously incoherent ramblings. Trump has historically struggled to form full sentences during his rallies, let alone tell the truth.

In other words, Trump's debate against president Joe Biden on CNN later this week is bound to be one for the ages — especially if the challenger decides to bust out some AI-generated zingers.

Election Chaos

In many ways, Trump's characteristic ramblings have plenty in common with the output of a contemporary AI chatbot.

Just earlier this month, Variety editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh claimed that Trump was suffering from "severe memory problems" during his interviews. Trump also made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims during his presidency.

Much in the same way, generative AI tools like ChatGPT struggle to stick to the facts, a tendency tech leaders have optimistically called "hallucinations."

Experts have long warned that the use of generative AI could throw the upcoming presidential election into chaos.

We've already come across politicians using AI-powered robocallers in an attempt to confuse voters. In April 2023, the Republican National Committee also released a controversial anti-Biden ad that featured AI-generated images, stoking the flames of an already fierce debate.

And just last week, OpenAI nixed an AI chatbot that was running for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Whether Trump's reliance on AI to write his speeches will make a difference in the grand scheme of things remains to be seen. While they may not be able to reliably tell the truth, AI chatbots can at least form full sentences — and even that would be an improvement over Trump's blabbering.

More on AI in politics: OpenAI Imprisons AI That Was Running for Mayor in Wyoming