AI in lobbying: time-saving can’t come at the expense of strategizing effectively, building relationships, says lobbyists
The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger said that if and when lobbyists use AI as part of their work, they are required by the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct to act in good faith and take reasonable steps to not mislead with any data they share.
Lobbying is undergoing a shift because of artificial intelligence, with government-relations professionals enjoying the benefits of time-saving tools, but AI can’t replace the ability to strategize effectively or to build relationships, say lobbyists.
“I always tell people, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to rise to be successful if you are passing the buck on the ability to develop a compelling, successful strategy, be able to fine tune it, [and] make tweaks as you’re getting information back and the campaign changes’,” said Christian von Donat, vice-president of government relations and strategy at Impact Public Affairs.
“I think it’s dangerous, especially for young practitioners who are getting into the field to feel like they’re going to excel in the long term if they’re reliant on something else to do heavy lifting for them, and not developing the critical mind themselves.”
Different government-relations (GR) firms have different approaches when it comes to their relationships with AI, according to von Donat, based on what he’s heard in speaking with others working in the GR space. von Donat said that some firms are “all in” when it comes to AI and are looking into building their own proprietary software, while others are not embracing AI at all.
von Donat said he would describe his own firm as “in the middle.”
“We’re not looking to replace human bodies and the work that they perform with AI. It’s a pitfall, right?” said von Donat.
“Our whole industry, in many respects, comes down to the ability to strategize effectively [and] to build relationships, and that’s something that I don’t see AI, at this stage or in the near future, replacing.”
When asked about his own relationship with AI, von Donat said that he hasn’t taken advantage of common platforms such as ChatGPT or Grammarly, and also doesn’t use AI to compile data. However, he agreed the technology does have useful applications related to GR. As an example, he talked about a client who was interested in integrating an AI feature onto their website to help answer common questions that members might have on certain topics, including advocacy.
The advice von Donat usually gives to colleagues is to use AI as a tool, but not to be so reliant as to replace one’s own ability to do the job well. When asked if there’s a risk of AI being used to take over the low-level work usually handled by people getting their start in GR, von Donat said he has “absolutely heard of that happening.”
“I think that the opportunities for people who are young politicos to make the shift into consulting are going to see less opportunities because of [AI], and less opportunities to build their credibility,”
“It’s going to be really interesting, the next couple of years.”
PoliTraQ founder says AI is a ‘force multiplier’
Muhammad Ali, vice-president at Crestview Strategy, told The Hill Times that he takes advantage of AI mostly for research purposes. Ali said he’s found it helpful for providing summaries of what a political figure has said on a given issue over a period of time, or in transcribing what was said at a news conference.
“I think the further adoption of AI is going to force people to think about how they can better use it. I do think, though, the one key caveat that most lobbyists at least are really mindful of is you’ve got to triple check your work,” said Ali.
“AI may suggest, ‘This might be an effective argument,’ but who is the audience and … what’s their personality like? Maybe they’re very strong on a certain position. Well, [then] you’ve got to make sure your questions and your content are respecting or adhering or shaped in an angle that helps address that perspective of that specific MP or staffer or minister or public servant, whoever it may be. That level of nuance is still very important.”
When asked about AI possibly taking work away from people getting their start in the GR space, Ali said that entry-level staffers “still need to have that additional value.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m concerned. I just think that it would be something that everyone … has to be thinking about. Like, how are we maximizing now the potential of individuals who don’t need to do certain tasks that AI could help accelerate? But that doesn’t mean that you omit their role because there’s still some value that they [have] to bring in,” he said.
One AI tool used by some GR professionals is PoliTraQ, an advocacy management platform founded in 2019 that can used to monitor government bills, generate transcriptions and summaries of government meetings, and track advocacy impact.
PoliTraQ founder Chris Moffatt Armes told The Hill Times that he started working on the platform during his time as a GR analyst at Queen’s University.
“I was responsible for managing all of the issues that my bosses were having to go out and discuss, but we didn’t have anything central to keep track of any of that information—who we talked to, where certain things stood,” he said.
“I went looking for something similar to the party databases. I had been a staffer and was used to having something central to keep track of all that info, and didn’t really find anything that was doing that for the GR space. That led to what would eventually become PoliTraQ.”
Moffatt Armes said he views AI as a “force multiplier,” and that AI tools have the potential to allow smaller GR firms with fewer resources to have expanded capacity.
“Where I see the real opportunity, as it relates to the lobbying industry, is … helping small teams, non-profits, solo practitioners, etc., be able to meet the information needs that their clients have,” he said.
“Instead of now having to do a whole bunch of individual searches for single keywords, you can do one big search for all of these and things that are semantically similar to them, and be able to capture not just what you were looking for, but things that you would have missed entirely.”
When asked about AI possibly taking work away from entry-level GR staff, Moffatt Armes said AI raises “interesting questions.”
“Those are the tasks that you put the new grad or the new hire in, and then over time they eventually work their way up through the firm. They start taking on more and more client-facing responsibility, but that’s a completely different skill set. And if we eliminate that kind of initial filter task, which is the grunt work … now we have to start thinking about what skill sets and what capabilities we’re looking for new hires to have that are going to be immediately applicable to things that wouldn’t have been on their radar until two, three or four years down the line” he said.
Just a little of that human touch
In an emailed statement to The Hill Times on March 10, Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger said that if and when lobbyists use AI as part of their work, they are required by the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct to act in good faith and take reasonable steps to not mislead with any data they share.
“The increased use of AI is inevitable, but we’ve noticed that it often has difficulty correctly interpreting the many nuances of the federal lobbying rules and requirements, often confusing them with those of other jurisdictions,” said Bélanger in the email.
“AI should not be relied upon to determine whether anyone is complying with their legal obligations; they should seek guidance from my office.”
Rob LeForte, the president of First Lake Solutions, told The Hill Times that his firm’s policy is to use AI to inform a lobbyists’ research, but not perform their work. He said that AI is only as good as the data it is fed.
“My sense has been you can’t give an AI product to a client and pass it off as your own, and still feel like you’re doing well by that client, in my opinion,” he said.
“My sense has just been that the AI tools are only as good as what’s made available online for them to learn from. And it can pull lots of information, but there’s so much about MPs or senators, and especially about staffers or public servants that will never find its way online; things that you can learn as a lobbyist in meetings face to face with people going for coffee, meeting them at events, [or] meeting them at receptions.”
In the case of low-level staff losing work to AI, LeForte said that would be short-term thinking.
“I think complementing their work with AI tools, which, frankly, a lot of younger people know a lot more about than I do now even … that’s more the way to go because an AI model is never going to become a partner in your business. An AI model is never going to help you go out and bring in new clients because they met someone at an event. It might help if you’re really tapping into those networks to do your own marketing work, or create the right ads, that sort of thing,” he said.
“Until politicians are replaced by AI, I think lobbyists will still need to be human, and the human touch of it all is very important from a reliability standpoint.”
jcnockaert@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
