A group supporting the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is using artificial intelligence to help pressure California Attorney General Rob Bonta to drop his antitrust lawsuit. The group, which uses the neutral-sounding name Neighbors for Strong Communities, uses AI to craft letters that are sent to Bonta’s office, but says that the senders are all real people. It’s a real person telling a story.” The group is also planning a press conference Thursday outside the Paramount gates to raise alarms about what would happen if the studio leaves California.
CEO David Ellison has threatened to leave the state if no deal is reached by Oct. 1, when the company will begin to owe a $7 million-per-day ticking fee to Warner Bros. investors. Kelly declined to disclose the group’s donors, but denied the allegation that the group is a Paramount “astroturf” campaign — i.e., an artificial grassroots effort funded by a corporation. It’s not being run by Paramount,” he said.
We comply with all reporting requirements,” he said. Out of respect for the people who want to contribute, we don’t make it public.” Kelly is a registered lobbyist who also founded Influent, a vendor that uses AI to generate personalized letters to policymakers, in lieu of old-fashioned form letters. In a LinkedIn post last year, he wrote that he was using AI to help Fortune 100 companies “mobilize real, persuasive grassroots movements at scale.” AI-generated influence campaigns have been a controversial subject in California.
Gavin Newsom signed a bill, AB 1736, that prohibits “lobbyist employers” from using fake comments to influence political outcomes. Influent’s website stresses that it relies on “real people,” and argues that it empowers them “to share their stories with on-message and persuasive materials that move decision-makers to action.” The company collects five-minute surveys from individuals and then turns them into advocacy letters, which the sender must approve before it is delivered. Influent’s other co-founder, Nate Saletan, is also a director of Neighbors for Strong Communities, according to its incorporation filing.
In the case of Paramount, Kelly said the group has mobilized 2,000 people, and has generated 1,000 calls to Bonta’s office. He said that AI was being used only for the letters, and not for the phone calls or other forms of outreach. The group is recording video testimonials from entertainment workers who say they fear the job impact if Paramount leaves California.
The group made several of them available for interviews with Variety in advance of the press conference. Dani Kelly, who runs a podcast studio in Chatsworth, has also provided a testimonial for the group and has posted on her social media about it. Once they leave, there will be a ripple effect.” Kelly, who is no relation to the group’s co-founder, said that she was unaware of any AI component in the campaign.
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