An imagined AI press secretary in an essay by NPR’s Scott Simon highlights how President Donald Trump’s direct media appearances and social media posts coexist with fewer White House briefings.
Simon presented the idea in a Nov. 14 essay on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, sketching a chatbot called Ben, a reference to Ben Franklin. In Simon’s scenario, the software would respond politely to reporters without giving them the information they sought, then direct them to a satisfaction survey. He imagined a reporter asking about President Putin’s latest statement and Ben acknowledging the question without answering. The routine drew on automated customer support, Simon wrote; it was satire, not a report of an administration plan.
Simon described the press secretary position as having been vacant for almost a month. He also noted that Katie Zacharia held the job for five days in mid-October and gave one briefing, which he characterized as short and poorly reviewed.
During the vacancy, Trump suggested that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White take the job. White declined during a White House appearance, and White House video shows Trump replying that he was “sort of kidding.” An earlier EconoTimes story covered the exchange.
Simon set his imagined chatbot against a decline in White House briefings. He said Trump had almost 500 interactions with reporters, spanning interviews, news conferences and impromptu question sessions. Simon said Trump uses Truth Social for dozens of daily posts aimed directly at the public. Simon cast those posts as an alternative to the back-and-forth of a briefing, where journalists can question or add context to a presidential message.
The essay’s fictional bot never commits the White House to adopting AI. Simon used Ben’s courteous but empty replies to satirize automated service systems and consider the press secretary’s role as the president communicates through other channels.
