AAPOR Presidential Address: “That Ain’t the Way I Heard It!” On the Role of Surveys in Shaping (and Being Shaped by) Generative AI

In 2024, our conference chair, Gina Walejko, showed remarkable foresight when she chose the theme for AAPOR’s eightieth annual conference: “Reshaping Democracy’s Oracle: Transforming Polls, Surveys, and the Measurement of Public Opinion in the Age of AI.”At the time, I’ll admit, I was so deeply immersed in AI developments that I focused mostly on the last part of the title, “in the age of AI.” In the first half of 2025, that changed. And, as you can imagine, preparing for this talk has been challenging. It’s been difficult not to think about those who aren’t here today because they lost their ability to travel due to contract freezes, grant suspensions, or budget cuts across the Federal Statistical System, its contractors, and affiliated researchers.1 No matter how generous the AAPOR community was with travel support—raising an incredible $23,000, thank you all—many colleagues still had to stay home. It’s also been difficult to think of those in our community who lost their jobs and, despite the new matchmaking and networking tools that AAPOR and its local chapters spun up in recent months, have not yet found their next opportunity.