Anthropic said on July 22 that it will give another $20 million to Public First Action, the advocacy group pushing for AI regulation — doubling its total commitment to $40 million after an identical donation in February.
Not a super PAC
The distinction matters legally. Public First Action is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt nonprofit, and an Anthropic spokesperson said the donation "cannot be used to influence the election of any candidate for federal, state or local office." Federal law lets such groups run issue advertisements — ads about a policy topic rather than a candidate. The group does have affiliated super PACs, but this money is not going to them.
Who runs it
Public First Action was founded in 2025 by two former members of Congress — Brad Carson, a Democrat, and Chris Stewart, a Republican. Its stated mission is "mitigating major AI risks," and it advocates AI transparency requirements, safeguards, export controls on advanced chips, and opposition to federal preemption of state AI laws. It has raised roughly $50 million against a $75 million target for the 2026 midterms.
The other side
Facing it is Leading the Future, backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and Marc Andreessen, which broadly opposes strict AI regulation and reported $31 million of cash on hand in mid-July after transferring $20 million to two affiliated PACs. Across the industry, at least $265 million has now been committed through AI-related super PACs ahead of the midterms.
Personal money too
FEC filings disclosed in mid-July showed CEO Dario Amodei personally gave $1 million to a Public First super PAC in May, with five Anthropic employees pushing the collective total past $2 million.