Hate speech-spewing AI bots disrupt Council meeting call-ins

City council meetings across the US have been disrupted by AI-generated bots spouting hate speech and racial slurs, prompting concerns about the misuse of AI to disrupt local politics and civic discourse.

In October 2023, a Beaverton City Council meeting was hijacked by AI-powered bots posing as pseudonymous local citizens attacking the Jewish mayor and other members of the Jewish community with hate speech and anti-Semitic slurs. The incident left councilors and onlookers, including children, bemused, shocked and anxious. Mayor Lacey Beaty was forced to intervene and mute the fake callers. 

A November 2023 Walla Walla, Washington, city council meeting on property tax revenues was disrupted by a barrage of racial slurs, profanity and antisemitic language spouted by fake, AI-generated bot call-in speakers. Staff were forced to cut the speaker off, and the City Council subsequently approved a new policy to cut off inappropriate commenters.