Giant Super PACs Clash Over A.I. Safety

Big A.I. companies have long said they welcome regulation, but a new fight in Washington suggests their public positions are now aligning with partisan muscle. Anthropic announced it would put $20 million into Public First Action, a super PAC set to push for tighter A.I.

safety rules and to back ad campaigns for Senators Marsha Blackburn and Pete Ricketts. The move sets up a clash with Leading the Future, a rival super PAC that has drawn more than $100 million in pledges and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and investors including Joe Lonsdale and Ron Conway.

That group argues for federal regulation to avoid a patchwork of state laws and to keep A.I. leadership central in U.S. politics. Anthropic says vast resources have flowed to organizations opposing A.I. safety; Public First Action is organized as a dark-money nonprofit and does not have to disclose its donors.

United States, Washington

anthropic, public first, andreessen horowitz, openai, greg brockman, joe lonsdale, ron conway, a.i. safety, super pac, dark-money