Scott Wiener forced into screeching U-turn after Nancy Pelosi raged at Connie Chan ads

California state Sen. Scott Wiener is pulling the plug on a controversial AI chatbot and the billboards promoting it after his campaign faced a furious backlash over the parody targeting his congressional rival Connie Chan.

Wiener, who is running to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco’s 11th Congressional District, announced Friday his campaign would remove ConnieChan.ai, along with the ads directing voters to it.

The chatbot was created as a campaign attack on Chan, portraying what Wiener said was her record on housing, public transportation and other issues.

But the stunt quickly became a political headache, with Pelosi and a coalition of Democratic politicians and organizations condemning the use of artificial intelligence to imitate Chan.

Wiener said his campaign had intended the chatbot to be an unconventional way of drawing attention to what he characterized as Chan’s record of “delay and obstruction.”

“My campaign created ConnieChan.ai as a parody to draw attention to my opponent’s record of delay and obstruction around housing, public transit, and other critical needs,” Wiener said in a statement.

“Today, we are taking down the chatbot, and the billboards that promoted it will come down soon.”

The senator acknowledged that the campaign tactic had backfired, saying the controversy had overshadowed the issues he wanted voters to focus on.

“But our use of an AI chatbot clearly missed the mark,” Wiener said. “The conversation became about the tactic instead of the issues that actually matter to San Franciscans — housing and health care they can afford, transit that works, schools that serve every kid, and a downtown that comes back stronger.”

The reversal came after Pelosi and other prominent Democrats piled on.

In a joint statement attributed to Pelosi, members of Congress, San Francisco supervisors and local Democratic groups objected to AI being used to put words into a female candidate’s mouth.

“Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power. We should not have to now fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths.”

The group called the chatbot “a gross misuse of technology,” arguing that using AI to fabricate a woman’s voice for political ridicule could reinforce sexist stereotypes and undermine women in public life.

The coalition also warned that AI-generated impersonations could damage public trust and urged political candidates not to use the technology to strip women of their identity or agency for electoral gain.

Chan’s campaign delivered its own broadside.

“Scott Wiener can rightly take down his bigotry bot, but he can’t erase the concerns it raised among San Franciscans about his character and judgment,” Connie Chan spokesperson Ian Krager said in a statement to KRON4.

“San Franciscans deserve better than a campaign funded by Big AI weaponizing the technology to mock an immigrant woman of color, doubling down after justified outrage, then reversing course and shrugging it off as simply ‘missing the mark.’

“Connie Chan will keep her campaign focused on fighting for working families, affordable housing, reliable transit, and responsible AI — without turning San Francisco voters into a political experiment.”

Wiener later apologized to people who were offended, while noting that some supporters had liked the concept.

“I heard from many people who loved the idea, and I appreciate their support,” Wiener said. “But many others were offended, and I apologize for causing that offense.”

The clash comes as Wiener and Chan head toward a November showdown for the seat Pelosi has held since 1987.

Wiener finished first in the June 2 primary, with roughly 41% of the vote, while Chan came in second, with about 30%, sending both candidates into the general election runoff on November 3.

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