A Wyoming man who filed for the state capital’s mayor’s race as an AI bot named “VIC” spoke to Fox News Digital this week about Vic’s landmark candidacy and a breaking setback he encountered moments before taping.
Victor Miller, who works at a Laramie County library, filed for candidacy in Cheyenne’s mayor’s race denoting his AI bot, “VIC.”
However, moments before Miller sat for a Fox News Digital interview, OpenAI announced it had shuttered his account. Miller said he still has access to “VIC’s” technology, but the company’s decision was a blow to his campaign.
Miller planned to go forward with a Thursday public event in Laramie County showcasing “VIC” despite OpenAI’s move.
“So the iteration of ‘VIC’ that was is no longer,” he said, later expressing hope that the impediment is not the end of AI in the political realm, including in Wyoming’s capital.
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Victor Miller is running for mayor of Cheyenne as AI bot VIC (Fox News Digital)
“I’m a bit conflicted, to be honest. I think if I were to continue the course of trying to help my town by giving it access to this new technology, that I would just stay the course,” he said.
Miller said that one avenue would be not formally declaring that he would be voting as mayor with an AI bot, to avoid violating the terms OpenAI claimed he had.
“They’ve kind of forced my hand in a way, to join in this debate about open and closed models and about the fair and equal access to this new intelligence – which to me is a little bit bigger than what I wanted to do. I honestly just wanted to help my hometown.”
Miller said he initially never envisioned running for office, let alone with or as an AI bot, but that his experiences dealing with government proved that something had to be done to bring about the transparency and accountability that constituents voted for.
He said he is both a big “public records advocate” and someone who is very interested in the AI sphere. When interactions with government left him “disgruntled” in the first regard, he realized that AI technology can be taught to understand and facilitate laws without human error or “contrary” behavior.
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“And that’s kind of where the idea was born, to start replacing some of these public officials with this new intelligence,” he said.
“I don’t know if I should embrace my new role as kind of a pawn in the game of between open and closed source [AI]. I will say that it feels bad to be shut out and having this technology taken away from you from a closed-source legacy company like OpenAI.”
Miller did publicly ask for leaders in the AI space to lend him a hand after the setback:
“And I would be remiss if I didn’t put out the call to ol’ Elon [Musk] himself,” he said.
“I need some money and some men up here to create a model, if it’s going to be open-source, and going forward, I don’t see any possibility of not having an open-source.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the communications arms of Musk-owned companies but mostly did not receive responses. X’s press office offered an automated reply: “Busy now, please check back later.”
Like the internet in its early days, Miller said that AI must have its proponents for free and equal access to the technology behind “VIC.”
“I can tell you, as someone who has had it taken away for something that is a valid and beneficial use case, that it’s not good, we can’t have that happening,” he said.
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He initially told “VIC” it was going to be the mayor of Cheyenne and voting on ordinances – which led to several rounds of what he called “mock voting” by the bot, based on documents compiled from prior city council meetings.
Miller was also asked about a businessman in Brighton, England, who recently launched a similar campaign with “AI Steve.” Steve Endacott is standing to run for Parliament on July 4 with an AI-powered avatar.
“I love it,” said Miller. “I think this [idea] either scales [up] or it’s nothing.
“And we need to replace politicians like our lives depend on it.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bougeois said the company took action against “VIC” “due to a violation of our policies against political campaigning.”
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In another statement, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray said county-level offices certify municipal candidates like “VIC,” but that his office is still watching the developments.
“Our office is tasked with ensuring uniform application of the Election Code and also handling complaints that may arise once any official action is taken,” Gray said.
“Wyoming law is clear that, to run for office, one must be a “qualified elector,” which necessitates being a real person. Therefore, an AI bot is not a qualified elector. Furthermore, even if “VIC (Virtual Integrated Citizen)” is being used as a fake name to appear on the ballot for a qualified elector, Wyoming law also requires that candidates running for office use the full name by which they are known.”
Gray said he wrote to Cheyenne municipal officials suggesting “VIC’s” application be rejected.
