Anthropic, the artificial intelligence lab that’s taken heat from the White House for its support of regulations and safety, is putting $20 million into the political arena ahead of the 2026 elections.
The company said on Thursday that it’s donating to Public First Action, a group that’s challenging the AI industry by supporting candidates across the political aisle. The group has just launched six-figure ad buys to back pro-AI regulation candidates Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Pete Rickets from Nebraska, both Republicans.
Blackburn, a U.S. senator now running for governor of her state, has led kids online safety bills, while Ricketts, who’s running for re-election, introduced legislation this year to limit advanced U.S. chips from being sold to China.
Public First Action is headed by former lawmakers Brad Carson and Chris Stewart. Carson told CNBC in an interview that the group aims to support about 30 to 50 candidates this cycle, and plans to raise between $50 million to $75 million.
That’s far less than the $125 million raised so far by pro-AI PAC Leading the Future, whose donors include tech investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, venture capitalists Joe Lonsdale, angel investor Ron Conway and AI software startup Perplexity.
