WASHINGTON — A super PAC network linked to Anthropic has dedicated $20 million to federal races. This spending includes efforts to oppose New York Assembly member Alex Bores in the Manhattan Democratic congressional primary. Super PACs with ties to OpenAI have also spent more than $7.5 million in the same primary race to replace the retiring Representative Jerry Nadler.

Anthropic, the maker of the AI tool Claude, supports more stringent AI regulation. Bores, a former Palantir data scientist, sponsored the RAISE Act as a state bill in New York. The RAISE Act would require major AI companies to be transparent about their safety protocols and to promptly report safety incidents.

The ads sponsored by the group tied to OpenAI note Bores' past support from Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried, a convicted financial fraudster and former crypto mogul, had his super PAC spend $100,000 to support Bores in 2022 when Bores first ran for the New York Assembly. One ad sponsored by the OpenAI-linked group asks, "Is that really who should be shaping AI safety for our kids?"

Adam Kovacevich, founder of the Chamber of Progress, a technology trade group, sees the spending by AI-linked super PACs as following a playbook developed by the cryptocurrency industry. The cryptocurrency industry has funded the only network of political groups that has spent more on congressional races this year than those linked to OpenAI. "I think what the crypto industry realized was that there's no substitute for building up political power," Kovacevich said. "Emerging technology companies have become increasingly 'comfortable with using their power to achieve a political goal,'" he said. "I think that for a long time, the tech industry lobbying strategy was just 'leave us alone,'" Kovacevich added.

No independent assessment was available for this report.