AI companies, which are comrades and competitors in a new and often turbulent industry, have increasingly sought to push their preferred policies at the state and federal levels. The Washington Post reported last month that AI companies had already contributed a whopping $185 million to the midterm races. In February, The New York Times also reported on Public First, a new Super PAC that had reportedly received at least $20 million from Anthropic, and which had financed ad campaigns supporting a particular regulatory agenda.

Anthropic’s political activities have ramped up as the company continues to be enmeshed in a nasty legal battle with the Defense Department. The dispute erupted earlier this year over the government’s use of Anthropic’s AI models and what guidelines (if any) should exist for that usage.

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