Anthropic ramps up its political activities with a new PAC

Anthropic, the AI safety lab behind Claude, has officially entered the political arena by filing documents to create AnthroPAC, a new political action committee. The PAC, organized by company treasurer Allison Rossi, will be funded through voluntary employee contributions capped at $5,000 each. Its stated purpose is to make contributions to candidates from both major parties during the midterm elections, targeting both established Washington lawmakers and rising political figures. This formalizes Anthropic's growing efforts to directly influence the policy and regulatory framework surrounding artificial intelligence.

This move aligns Anthropic with its peers in an industry-wide lobbying surge. According to a Washington Post report last month, AI companies have already contributed a staggering $185 million to the 2024 midterm races. Furthermore, The New York Times reported in February on a separate Super PAC called Public First, which received at least $20 million from Anthropic to finance ad campaigns promoting a specific regulatory agenda. The ramp-up in political activity coincides with Anthropic's ongoing legal dispute with the U.S. Department of Defense over the government's use of its AI models and the guidelines governing that usage, highlighting the high stakes of the current regulatory debate.