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{"id":27419,"date":"2026-10-06T00:34:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T00:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/ai-safety-groups-arent-buying-openais-spending-retreat\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T00:34:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T00:34:51","slug":"ai-safety-groups-arent-buying-openais-spending-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/ai-safety-groups-arent-buying-openais-spending-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"AI safety groups aren\u2019t buying OpenAI\u2019s spending retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>AI safety groups aren&#8217;t buying OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s shifting stance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/10\/05\/sam-altman-ai-industry-political-spending-01106527\" target=\"_blank\">on political spending<\/a> in the midterms.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re wary of his concession that campaign cash from industry-aligned groups, like the OpenAI-aligned Leading the Future super PAC, may have inadvertently backfired. Instead, they\u2019re pushing for stronger commitments to downsize the flood of money \u2014 and for candidates to reject any support from pro-AI groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won\u2019t believe that they are actually changing their strategy, or their goals I should say, unless and until they do,\u201d said Democratic New York assemblymember Alex Bores, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/11\/alex-bores-ai-regulation-primary-loss-01031248\" target=\"_blank\">emerged as a key voice<\/a> among AI regulation advocates after Leading the Future and other groups spent $8 million to tank his House campaign. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/14\/alex-bores-ai-group-who-decides-01076451\" target=\"_blank\">launched a $30 million effort<\/a> to unify Democrats on AI policy last month.<\/p>\n<p>Altman\u2019s stark acknowledgement to Blue Light News follows a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/30\/technology\/openai-brockman-super-pac-leading-the-future.html\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times report<\/a> that revealed OpenAI President Greg Brockman backed out of injecting more cash into Leading the Future earlier this summer, calling the super PAC\u2019s efforts a \u201cdistraction\u201d from the company\u2019s mission. The pause is notable as Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/16\/poll-ai-technology-risks-humanity-trump-voters-01078087\" target=\"_blank\">grow increasingly anxious<\/a> about the risks the technology poses, and lawmakers scramble to figure out how to approach the emerging tech.<\/p>\n<p>Still, some critics are not taking Altman\u2019s concession or Brockman\u2019s pullback as a sign of a fundamental change in the industry\u2019s campaign strategy \u2014 at least not yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I read it as is they are no longer \u2014 or Greg Brockman in particular is not \u2014 going to fund Leading the Future,\u201d said Bores. \u201cDoes that mean that the industry is not going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence policy and get benefits on their way? No.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bores insisted that candidates should think twice before accepting financial support from Leading the Future specifically: \u201cAn elected official of either party taking money from Leading the Future should be viewed with incredible suspect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Guardrails Alliance political director Charlie Blaettler agreed, saying OpenAI leadership deciding to distance themselves from Leading the Future should be the final straw for Democrats backed by the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it\u2019s too toxic for Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, why are Democrats still taking their money?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the Future and rival super PAC network Public First \u2014 which advocates for AI regulation and is largely funded by OpenAI competitor Anthropic \u2014 together spent over $70 million through super PACs this cycle, according to FEC data.<\/p>\n<p>Other pro-regulation advocates have jumped in with their own political spending, with groups like the Guardrails Alliance \u2014 a nonprofit and super PAC that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/18\/technology\/ai-super-pac-guardrails-alliance.html\" target=\"_blank\">launched in June<\/a> \u2014 raising $5 million and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Bores. Some of Guardrails Alliance\u2019s money <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/openai-employees-donations-guardrails-alliance-leading-the-future\/\" target=\"_blank\">came from OpenAI employees<\/a> pushing back against Leading the Future, which is funded in large part by OpenAI president Brockman, his wife Anna, early OpenAI investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and their venture capital firm a16z. They have contributed a combined $75 million to Leading the Future.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the Future and a16z declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>Some Democrats who were backed in their primaries by Leading the Future \u2014 like Reps. Ritchie Torres and Joe Morelle of New York and Jared Moskowitz of Florida \u2014 declined to say whether they would disavow the Leading the Future cash that boosted them in their races.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn outside AI PAC spent money in the 4th district during the primary, but they didn\u2019t donate directly to my campaign,\u201d Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), who was backed by a nearly $300,000 investment from Leading the Future, said in a statement to Blue Light News.<\/p>\n<p>She did not address whether she would disavow the group and its spending: \u201cI\u2019ve been working with labor leaders and advocates to put workers first when it comes to AI. We need clear federal guardrails to protect workers, safeguard our planet, prevent utility rate spikes and give consumers a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even if candidates decide to further distance themselves from the industry\u2019s spending, some pro-guardrails advocates said the onus still lies with figures like Altman to put a stop to \u2014 or significantly decrease \u2014 the influx of money altogether.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Altman was] basically saying, \u2018These are the rules of the game, and I can\u2019t really change them, and it\u2019s not in my job description,\u2019\u201d said Brendan Steinhauser, who leads AI safety group The Alliance for Secure AI Action. \u201cOf course he\u2019s saying that, but they could do a unilateral disarmament or encourage the other labs to stop giving, and maybe it\u2019d be just like pacing the frontier \u2014 maybe people could pace political giving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former Democratic Rep. Brad Carson, who co-founded Public First, said he would be open to engaging in talks with Leading the Future about pacing or scaling back the industry\u2019s political spending \u2014 but only if so-called AI \u201caccelerationists\u201d are serious about backing off. He called out Andreessen and Horowitz who have emerged as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/08\/28\/us\/politics\/billionaire-midterms-donors.html\" target=\"_blank\">the biggest known spenders<\/a> in this year\u2019s midterm elections and were early investors in OpenAI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs long as these accelerationists have a desire to spend tens and tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, there is probably a need for a Public First,\u201d said Carson, who also leads the nonprofit group Americans for Responsible Innovation. \u201cSo even if Brockman drops out, Andreessen and Horowitz can just drop another 50 million if they felt like it, and I wouldn\u2019t want to be disarmed against that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Brendan Bordelon contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI safety groups aren&#8217;t buying OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s shifting stance on political spending in the midterms. They\u2019re wary of his concession that campaign cash from industry-aligned groups, like the OpenAI-aligned Leading the Future super PAC, may have inadvertently backfired. Instead, they\u2019re pushing for stronger commitments to downsize the flood of money \u2014 and for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}