Anthropic donated $20 million to Public First Action, restricted to education rather than political ads, raising questions about the impact of restricted funding.

Silicon Valley’s AI policy fight is splintering into two camps: faster development with lighter regulation versus stronger safeguards and more state authority, with roughly $8 million spent by faster-development groups and about $6.9 million by safeguards groups in general-election races through October 20.

Through October 20, 2026, general-election congressional spending tracks about $8 million for the faster-development camp and about $6.9 million for the safeguards camp, per FEC filings cited by CNBC.

AI money in the 2026 cycle splits between Leading the Future (faster development) and Public First Action aligned with Anthropic (stronger safeguards), with Think Big and other affiliates backing the former and Anthropic-backed groups backing the latter.

Greg Brockman briefly pledged a second $25 million to Leading the Future but reportedly withdrew it, with reasons not disclosed.

Key figures include Leading the Future (Greg Brockman, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz), Public First Action (Anthropic, Dario Amodei), and Innovation Council Action (Taylor Budowich, David Sacks).

Leading the Future is the largest spender, reaching across 36 House and Senate races, heavily using TV ads, texts, and direct mail; Think Big operates as an arm targeting individual campaigns and is largely funded by Leading the Future.

Leading the Future has raised substantial totals (about $125 million by end of 2025) from donors like Andreessen Horowitz, Greg Brockman, Joe Lonsdale, Ron Conway, and Perplexity; Public First Action has about $80 million in fundraising, with Anthropic contributing restricted funds.

Leading the Future, formed in August 2025, channels over $100 million pledged from tech figures to influence candidates through Think Big (Democratic) and American Mission (Republican) alliances to push faster deployment and looser regulation.

Key players include Leading the Future with over $100 million commitments, Anthropic’s $20 million to Public First Action, and fundraising moves by OpenAI, Palantir co-founders, Andreessen Horowitz, and Meta adjusting funding amid concerns about reputation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticizes the strategy, suggesting money alone won’t fix public perception and calling for a more thoughtful pace of acceleration.

In New York’s 12th District primary, Think Big backed a challenger to AI-safety ally Alex Bores, while Anthropic-backed Jobs and Democracy PAC spent about $15 million backing Bores, signaling a clash over AI policy influence; Bores lost to Micah Lasher.