Ex-Trump aide Brad Parscale, who targeted Facebook ads in 2016 victory, now has his own AI platform
Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager Brad Parscale, who was the operative behind the ex-president’s election-winning Facebook ads in 2016, has debuted his own artificial intelligence platform.
In a promotional video for the new platform, which Parscale claims will boost conservative campaigns, he touted “artificial intelligence that’s going to replace polling in the future across the country,” according to the Associated Press.
Dubbed Campaign Nucleus, Parscale says the site uses AI to sift through data to gauge voter sentiment, then find persuadable voters and generate customized emails.
It can also amplify social media posts of “anti-woke” influencers, AP reported, though it’s unclear how Campaign Nucleus is able to skirt around algorithms.
As a top aide to Trump in 2016, Parscale was responsible for tapping scandal-plagued British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to boost Trump’s campaign on Facebook, per AP.
Two years following Trump’s election as the 45th US President, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of roughly 87 million users on the Meta-owned platform, which was then used to target voters during Trump’s campaign.
The 2018 case led to a $725 million privacy settlement that made any US Facebook user between mid-2007 and December 2022 eligible to receive a payment.
Each of the 28 million claimants reportedly recieved an average of $30.
As Parscale starts up a new venture, he is still helping Trump get to the White House — though this time in a much more under-the-radar role.
Campaign Nucleus has already received more than $2.2 million collectively between Trump’s camp, the Republican National Committee and their related political action and fundraising committees, according to AP, citing campaign finance records.
Though Trump’s spend on Campaign Nucleus only makes up a small portion of his campaign’s political spending, Parscale has his sights set on working with other top Republicans and senior RNC officials, a source familiar with Parscale’s role told AP.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson’s campaign, for example, recently hired Campaign Nucleus, per AP.
Parscale has also reportedly recruited conservative leaders in Israel, the Balkans and Brazil to tap Campaign Nucleus for their respective campaigns.
Parscale, however, is not involved in the day-to-day operations of Trump’s second bid to enter the White House, the GOP operative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AP.
It wasn’t immediately clear who at the RNC Parscale has an in with, though Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump — who’s married to the former president’t third child, Eric Trump — is the RNC’s new co-chair.
Lara also previously worked as a consultant to a company co-owned by Parscale, AP reported.
Despite Trump’s reported spend on Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Campaign Nucleus, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has called AI “so scary” and “dangerous” in a Fox News interview earlier this year.
His campaign, which has shied away from highlighting Parscale’s role, told AP in a statement that it did not “engage or utilize” tools supplied by any AI company.
“The campaign uses a set of proprietary algorithmic tools, like many other campaigns across the country, to help deliver emails more efficiently and prevent sign up lists from being populated by false information,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the outlet.
Representatives for Campaign Nucleus did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
