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DonBot is ready to debate

October 15, 2024
Scott Nover
​FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) attends a news conference in the United States Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 18, 2021.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) attends a news conference in the United States Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 18, 2021.
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Bentley Hensel, a longshot candidate for the US House of Representatives in Virginia, wants his opponent to debate him. His rival is Rep. Don Beyer, who has spoken to GZERO AI in the past about going to graduate school in his 70s to study machine learning. (Read our April interview with Beyer here).

But Hensel, a software engineer running as an independent, told Reuters he was frustrated that Beyer wouldn’t appear in any debates between now and Election Day — the congressman appeared in a September forum with other candidates. So Hensel took a unique approach to get “Beyer” to debate him. He created DonBot, an artificial intelligence chatbot trained to represent Beyer in a debate — without Beyer’s permission, of course.

The debate will stream online on Oct. 17 and will feature Hensel, fellow independent David Kennedy, and DonBot. Representatives for Beyer did not respond to a request for comment from GZERO AI but told Reuters that the congressman still has no plans to participate in the October debate.

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