Innovating in the Halls of Power – Caleb Smith (Office of the Speaker)

In this episode, Eric Wilson chats with Caleb Smith, the Digital Communications Director for the Speaker of the House, about the role of technology in political communication. They discuss the importance of engaging with the audience, the challenges and opportunities with emerging platforms, and the potential implications of artificial intelligence (AI) in content creation and deep fakes. Caleb shares insights from his experiences and how his team uses technology to efficiently communicate political messages.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Introduction to Caleb Smith: Caleb introduces himself and his role as the Digital Communications Director for the Speaker of the House. His role involves using digital platforms to communicate the Speaker's message to the audience effectively.
2. Importance of Audience Engagement: Caleb emphasizes the importance of understanding and engaging with the audience. He highlights the need to recognize where the audience is and adapt the message to be relevant and relatable.
3. Challenges with Emerging Platforms: They discuss the challenges of keeping up with emerging social platforms and how quickly they evolve. Caleb mentions the importance of being able to pivot and adapt to new platforms and communicate effectively across different channels.
4. Utilizing VR (Virtual Reality): Caleb shares his excitement about VR as a communication tool. He discusses how VR can be used for storytelling and to offer immersive experiences to the audience, providing them with a unique perspective.
5. Artificial Intelligence and Deep Fakes: The conversation takes a turn towards the growing concerns about AI and deep fakes. Eric Wilson points out that there might be instances where videos are manipulated to show someone saying something they didn’t say. Caleb, on the other hand, views AI as a promising technology for content creation. However, he acknowledges that guidelines need to be developed to address moral implications.
6. AI in the Speaker’s Office: Caleb provides examples of how they are currently using AI in the Speaker's office to assist with transcriptions and embedding captions into videos. He believes that AI can make content creation more efficient.
7. Personal Experiences and Trivia: Towards the end of the episode, Caleb shares personal experiences and trivia about the house, including how he proposed to his wife on the balcony of the Capitol.

Episode Quotes:

• “The heart of what I do is trying to take the speaker’s message and communicate it to the American people.” - Caleb Smith
• “We want to be where the audience is, not where we want them to be.” - Caleb Smith
• “There's a balance between jumping on every new shiny object and also recognizing that you have to be willing to pivot.” - Caleb Smith
• “VR has the ability to be transformative in how we think about storytelling.” - Caleb Smith
• “AI is making a small difference in our workload right now, but I think the future is very, very bright for that.” - Caleb Smith

Links:

• Link to the Speaker’s website to keep up with Caleb's work
• The Business of Politics Show Website

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