Using AI to Get More Out of the Meta Ads Library with Joshua Canter

Josh Canter is vice president of digital advocacy at McGuire Woods Consulting, where he uses digital tools to influence legislation and shape public policy. His work spans multi-million dollar ad campaigns, interactive platforms, organic content, and full-scale omnichannel strategies — all focused on driving real-world impact. His work has been featured in the New York Times and Wired, and he's worked on campaigns and advocacy efforts around the world. Josh is also one of the more creative AI builders working in politics right now. He connected Claude directly to the Meta Ad Library API to generate deep, contextualized research reports on political ad spending — automatically. In this episode we get into exactly how he built it, what it can do, and where this kind of AI-powered campaign research is headed. TOPICS COVERED What is the Meta Ad Library? How Josh connected Claude to the Meta API Building a repeatable research skill in Claude Why you still need a human to gut-check AI output AI as oppo research tool for campaigns Other tools Josh is building (AEO checker, AI topic explorer, zip code tool) Facebook groups as a political black box Will AI level the playing field for smaller campaigns? Why Josh uses Claude over ChatGPT One actionable tip for campaigns not yet using AI seriously Find links, transcript and more at HelloMergeTag.com.