21,000 hours saved. $16 million dollars conserved. 3,626 professionals trained. Behind these numbers lies the story of the Progressive AI Lab‘s first year and our mission to serve as the hub for AI innovation within the Democratic and progressive landscape in 2024.
Since then, HGL has played a major leadership role in advancing AI in campaigns and shaping the conversation around its responsible use. We believed, and still believe, that AI is poised to transform our society and industries as we know it. Advancing its adoption and training our ecosystem on its positive applications is paramount, especially when our opposition is already far ahead.
But for all of AI’s transformative potential, 2024 was clearly the experimentation cycle—not the widespread adoption cycle—for AI.
Leah Bae, Progressive AI Lab lead, at the AI in Campaigns & Organizing Summit in Washington, DC
The Progressive AI Lab deployed funding, conducted training and programming, and delivered research and insights for the Democratic and progressive ecosystem to effectively integrate responsible AI.
Convening the Movement and Discovering AI’s Potential
The 300-person AI in Campaigns & Organizing Summit we co-hosted with Cooperative Impact Lab and Zinc Labs last January was a defining event for progressive AI, launching the first productive and proactive conversation on the use of AI for politics. We facilitated alignment across ecosystem leaders on AI needs and priorities, including on training, experimentation, and guidelines, and delivered on them. Alongside Zinc Labs, Cooperative Impact Lab, and DigiDems, we co-produced the Quick-Start AI Guidelines for Democratic Campaigns on AI redlines and encouraged use cases.
We also awarded 14 incubation grants through an RFP that received 140+ submissions. We coached 67 AI founders through this program and supported them to develop promising and underexplored applications of generative AI, and at times discouraged applications of AI (because AI is not the answer to everything). Throughout our AI Lab, we prioritized ideas with the potential to address 2024 challenges, leveraging what already exists, which could realistically be implemented to impact 2024 campaigns and organizations.
Training Arena Summit attendees in Atlanta on responsible uses of AI for their 2024 campaigns
What we discovered early on was that the majority of progressive professionals were extremely curious and interested in learning about the foundations of generative AI, yet were fearful about incorporating new tools in a high-pressure environment and not knowing how to use it responsibly. As we mentioned in our AI Landscape Report, it is clear that our ecosystem is still in the experimentation stage of this technology. Many practitioners reported nervousness and apprehension about the use of AI in politics.
Educating Practitioners and Driving Innovation
With this technology being so nascent for our ecosystem, we spent a lot of intentional time on education, training 3,626 people last cycle through custom trainings with organizations including the Association of State Democratic Committees and Arena, as well as through public briefings. We also co-hosted eight public-facing AI Open Mic briefings with Analyst Institute, Cooperative Impact Lab, and Research Collaborative. We socialized responsible applications of AI in the media whenever we could, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, and more.
HGL Founder & Managing Partner Betsy Hoover in a Scripps News TV interview on AI’s impacts in politics
Through research initiatives, we set out to de-risk the experimentation and usage of generative AI. Our AI Content Experimentation Hub, led by Jose Cornejo, rigorously tested off-the-shelf commercially available generative AI tools and published how-to user guides on effectively integrating them into workflows.
We also ran a robust series of RCTs studying the persuasion and productivity effects of AI in political ad content, finding that AI usage created zero backlash and greenlighting AI experimentation for political content creators.
Higher Ground Institute Co-founder & Executive Director Jose Cornejo training content creators on AI for content workflows
Our Impact: What We Learned and Where We Go From Here
This cycle, most progressive organizations primarily chose to deploy internal uses of AI, meaning those that enhanced productivity and efficiency. They also opted to integrate AI in ways that made their existing workflows easier over establishing creative new workflows. From the presidential campaign to downballot campaigns to progressive advocacy organizations, we saw various groups of different sizes experiment on smaller scales. We also saw common reports of people experimenting on an individual level rather than through their organization’s formal approval.
From our 2024 Election Tech Survey
The tools supported through the Progressive AI Lab alone saved our ecosystem over 21,000 hours and $16 million dollars. DonorAtlas helped over 100 downballot campaigns find new donors in seconds and save staff over 6,000 hours. AAPI Victory Alliance saved AAPI organizations over 3,500 hours in detecting disinfo and distributing rapid response content. Quiller supported resource-strapped downballot campaigns, including Patti Green, a mayoral candidate in Bowling Green, KY, to raised $22.22 per minute spent on the Quiller program, up from $8.33 without. You can read more about the impact of AI companies here.
Landscape map from the AI Edition: Higher Ground Labs’ Political Tech Landscape Report
While the 2024 election is over, the left should not and cannot lose focus on the impacts of generative AI. The AI industry is making leaps and bounds every single day with no regard for our electoral cycles. Let’s build on our progress so that we can continue to shape political AI in a way that centers our movement’s values and people.
In 2025, we are continuing our Progressive AI Lab work through the Higher Ground Institute—a new hub from Cooperative Impact Lab and Higher Ground Labs for progressive tech innovation, adoption, and experimentation. Through HGI, we’ll identify, test, and scale high-impact use cases that reimagine traditional campaign tactics for this new era. If you’re interested in partnering with us, we’d love to hear from you at institute@highergroundlabs.com.
Leah Bae led HGL’s 2024 Progressive AI Lab. She is VP of Programs & Partnerships at Higher Ground Labs and Co-founder of Higher Ground Institute.
