AI safety groups are blasting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for paying lip service when he conceded that “something’s clearly not working” with the industry’s political spending.
— “I won’t believe that they are actually changing their strategy or their goals unless and until they do,” said Democratic New York assemblymember Alex Bores, who emerged as a key voice among AI regulation advocates after AI super PAC network Leading The Future and other groups spent $8 million to tank his House campaign. Bores, who launched a $30 million effort to unify Democrats on AI policy last month, accused OpenAI and its competitors of “trying to have their cake and eat it too” while pursuing an aggressive government affairs strategy behind the scenes.
— Advocacy groups are calling for real action instead: a ceasefire or significant downsizing of Silicon Valley cash in this year’s midterm elections.
— “[Altman was] basically saying, these are the rules of the game, and I can’t really change them, and it’s not in my job description,” Brendan Steinhauser, who leads AI safety group The Alliance for Secure AI Action, told PI. “Of course he’s saying that, but they could do a unilateral disarmament or encourage the other labs to stop giving, and maybe it’d be just like pacing the frontier — maybe people could pace political giving.”
— Former Democratic Rep. Brad Carson, who co-founded Anthropic-aligned rival super PAC network Public First, said he would be open to engaging in talks with LTF about pacing or scaling back the industry’s political spending — but only if so-called AI “accelerationists” are serious about backing off. He called out venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the co-founders of Andreessen Horowitz, who have emerged as the biggest known spenders in this year’s midterm elections.
— “As 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,” said Carson, who also leads the nonprofit group Americans for Responsible Innovation. “So even if [OpenAI President Greg] Brockman drops out, Andreessen and Horowitz can just drop another 50 million if they felt like it, and I wouldn’t want to be disarmed against that.”
— Altman’s comments came after Brockman reportedly backed out of a second $25 million donation to LTF and apologized to employees for creating a “distraction.” LTF and Public First have spent over $70 million supporting their preferred candidates this year.
— “I would be very curious to know what Democrats who have accepted [LTF] support are thinking, and if they’re going to stand up and publicly reject Leading The Future support,” said Charlie Blaettler, political director of the Guardrails Alliance, a pro-regulation super PAC launched to combat LTF’s influence. “If it’s too toxic for Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, why are Democrats still taking their money?”
— Leading the Future declined to comment. a16z did not respond to a request for comment.
— Frates — the founding author of PI — hired Erin Waters, a former assistant commissioner for public affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as his first COO earlier this year. Storyline’s senior team also includes head of content Glen Justice, a former New York Times Washington reporter, and senior adviser John Seng, who founded Spectrum Science Communications and brings more than four decades of corporate communications experience.
— “When clients bring us their toughest challenges, they get a senior team who sets the strategy, does the work and gets results,” Frates said in a statement. The firm’s work now spans public affairs campaigns, earned and owned media, executive thought leadership, video storytelling, organizational advisory, media training and crisis and litigation communications.
H&K REBUILDS IN TENNESSEE: Bipartisan K Street firm Holland & Knight is adding four members to its Tennessee state and local government advocacy team: Steven Henry, Christian Potucek and Andrew Palmer as senior public affairs advisers and Mary Martha Willson as a public affairs adviser.
— Henry was a principal at strategic consulting firm Jigsaw and previously worked as deputy campaign manager for former Nashville Mayor David Briley. Potucek was most recently deputy chief of staff for external affairs in Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office. Palmer was in Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) office, and Willson is coming from law firm Bass, Berry & Sims.
— The move comes after the Vogel Group poached four lobbyists and public affairs professionals from Holland & Knight’s Nashville team in May, as your host previously reported. The city has seen an influx of lobbyists in recent months, with K Street firm Cornerstone Government Affairs opening shop there this summer.
DEMS SPLIT ON OVERSIGHT: Democrats are divided over how hard to go after companies that courted the White House over the past two years should they retake Congress, our colleagues Jasper Goodman and Katherine Hapgood report.
— “We don’t want to turn into a banana republic where you lose an election and it’s all about retribution,” said Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), a senior member of the Financial Services Committee.
— But other progressives are cautioning lawmakers not to show too much restraint.
— “It would be political suicide for Democrats to campaign on fighting corruption and then turn around and go easy on the very companies that are facilitating it,” said Ella Fanger, corporate power policy adviser at the liberal nonprofit group Demand Progress.
— The divide is setting up tension over how Democrats should treat some of the largest and most powerful American companies, from technology giants like Meta and Amazon to cryptocurrency leaders like Coinbase and Ripple, if they return to power next year, Jasper and Katherine write.
THE OTHER BIG TECH BATTLE: Lobbyists for Google and Apple are engaged in a massive effort to press state lawmakers to adopt kids’ online safety laws that would shield the tech giants from some lawsuits tied to age-verification requirements, our colleague Owen Dahlkamp reports.
— The lobbying battle is unfolding as Big Tech faces hundreds of lawsuits from individuals who say they or their children were harmed by the platforms’ design. Meanwhile, states are passing age-verification laws, opening the door for additional lawsuits against the tech companies. But it’s the proposals from Apple and Google that are getting pushback from some corners of the tech safety community.
— An Apple spokesperson said the company is “committed to protecting children online while also maintaining our long-standing commitment to protecting privacy.” A spokesperson for Google said it’s “committed to empowering parents, protecting privacy, and keeping young people safe online” and that the company welcomes “sensible legislation that furthers those goals.”