AI PACs spent millions trying to shape Congress — here’s how they fared

Political groups both supporting and opposing the AI industry spent millions of dollars trying to influence Tuesday’s midterm elections and shape the future of AI regulation. That spending produced mixed results, with some of the most heavily backed candidates losing their races.

支持和反对人工智能行业的政治团体花费了数百万美元，试图影响周二的中期选举并塑造人工智能监管的未来。这些支出产生了喜忧参半的结果，一些获得重金支持的候选人最终输掉了竞选。

On the industry side, two AI-focused political action committees (PACs) that raised and spent money to influence the elections — American Mission and Building the Future — collectively spent $4.8 million to back South Carolina Senate candidate Darline Graham, who lost. American Mission is the Republican spending arm of Leading the Future (LTF), a broader political group backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. American Mission also spent more than $500,000 apiece supporting Republican House candidates Aaron Flint in Montana and Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina, both of whom lost. LTF’s Democratic spending arm, Think Big, had better luck backing Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who won reelection.

在行业方面，两个专注于人工智能的政治行动委员会（PAC）——“美国使命”（American Mission）和“建设未来”（Building the Future）——筹集并投入资金以影响选举，它们总共花费了480万美元支持南卡罗来纳州参议院候选人达琳·格雷厄姆（Darline Graham），但该候选人最终落败。“美国使命”是“引领未来”（Leading the Future，简称LTF）的共和党支出部门，这是一个由OpenAI总裁格雷格·布罗克曼（Greg Brockman）和风险投资公司安德森·霍洛维茨（Andreessen Horowitz）支持的更广泛的政治团体。“美国使命”还分别花费超过50万美元支持蒙大拿州的共和党众议院候选人亚伦·弗林（Aaron Flint）和北卡罗来纳州的劳里·巴克豪特（Laurie Buckhout），两人均告落选。LTF的民主党支出部门“大局观”（Think Big）在支持佛罗里达州众议员贾里德·莫斯科维茨（Jared Moskowitz）方面运气较好，后者成功连任。

Groups advocating for stronger AI safeguards also saw mixed results. Public First, which is backed by Anthropic, supported several Republicans who lost through its affiliated PAC but had more success backing Democratic candidates. It also contributed $3 million to a PAC supporting California state Sen. Scott Wiener, who was leading his race at the time of publication. Meanwhile, Guardrails Alliance, a group that has sought to make taking money from AI companies a political liability, spent more than $1 million apiece opposing two candidates who lost: California Rep. Jimmy Gomez and Montana’s Aaron Flint. It also spent $300,000 supporting Angela Gonzales-Torres, who defeated Gomez.

倡导加强人工智能保障措施的团体也经历了成败参半的结果。由Anthropic支持的“公共第一”（Public First）通过其附属的政治行动委员会支持了几位落选的共和党人，但在支持民主党候选人方面则更为成功。它还向一个支持加州州参议员斯科特·维纳（Scott Wiener）的政治行动委员会捐赠了300万美元，截至本文发布时，维纳在竞选中处于领先地位。与此同时，“护栏联盟”（Guardrails Alliance）——一个试图让接受人工智能公司资金成为政治负担的团体——分别花费超过100万美元反对两名落选候选人：加州众议员吉米·戈麦斯（Jimmy Gomez）和蒙大拿州的亚伦·弗林。该组织还花费30万美元支持了击败戈麦斯的安吉拉·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯（Angela Gonzales-Torres）。

It’s difficult to separate the impact of AI-related spending from the broader Democratic wave that swept Tuesday’s elections. Elon Musk, who reportedly poured half a billion dollars into supporting Republicans in the midterms, also saw many of his candidates lose. Indeed, LTF also backed some candidates it believed were likely to win, only to see them lose to the Dems. For LTF, though, the general election wasn’t the main focus. The group told TechCrunch ahead of Election Day that it thinks primaries (the contests that choose each party’s nominee) are a more effective use of its money, because spending there can build name recognition and help candidates set up AI policy agendas.

很难将人工智能相关支出的影响与周二席卷选举的更广泛的民主党浪潮区分开来。据报道，埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）投入了5亿美元支持中期选举中的共和党人，但他支持的许多候选人也输掉了比赛。事实上，LTF也支持了一些它认为胜算很大的候选人，结果却看到他们输给了民主党人。不过，对于LTF来说，大选并不是主要焦点。该组织在选举日前告诉TechCrunch，它认为初选（选择各党派候选人的竞争）是其资金更有效的用途，因为在初选中的支出可以建立知名度，并帮助候选人制定人工智能政策议程。

LTF spent $27.38 million in the primaries, including $8 million alone on opposing New York Assembly member Alex Bores, who lost his bid for Congress back in June. When deciding whether it’s worth jumping into a general election race, LTF assesses how competitive the race is, whether it thinks spending could make a difference, and whether it should keep its powder dry for future elections. Charlie Blaettler, political director of Guardrails Alliance, had a different theory for why LTF spent comparatively little in the general election. “They don’t want their money to become an issue in these elections,” he said.

LTF在初选中花费了2738万美元，其中包括单独花费800万美元用于反对纽约州议会议员亚历克斯·博雷斯（Alex Bores），后者在6月份竞选国会议员时落败。在决定是否值得投入大选时，LTF会评估竞选的竞争程度、支出是否能产生影响，以及是否应该为未来的选举保留实力。“护栏联盟”的政治总监查理·布莱特勒（Charlie Blaettler）对LTF在大选中支出相对较少的原因有不同的看法。他说：“他们不希望自己的资金成为这些选举中的争议焦点。”

He pointed to the Michigan Senate primary election, in which a pro-Israel lobbying group called AIPAC spent close to $30 million backing Democratic candidate Haley Stevens against Abdul El-Sayed. Stevens conceded the primary to El-Sayed, who went on to win the Senate seat. “AIPAC became the story in that race,” Blaettler said. “We know people hate AI billionaires. They hate the people running these companies. They’re very distrustful and disgusted by the political spending and lobbying that the tech industry does. If they spend in a competitive race, they would just become an enormous liability for their candidates.”

他提到了密歇根州的参议院初选，当时一个名为AIPAC的亲以色列游说团体花费近3000万美元支持民主党候选人海莉·史蒂文斯（Haley Stevens）对抗阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德（Abdul El-Sayed）。史蒂文斯在初选中向埃尔-赛义德认输，后者最终赢得了参议院席位。布莱特勒说：“AIPAC成了那场竞选中的焦点。我们知道人们讨厌人工智能亿万富翁。他们讨厌经营这些公司的人。他们对科技行业进行的政治支出和游说感到非常不信任和厌恶。如果他们在竞争激烈的竞选中投入资金，只会成为其候选人的巨大负担。”

The main fight among AIPACs, whether they are pro-industry or pro-regulation, is whether Congress should establish a national AI framework that overrides state laws, or whether states will maintain their own ability to impose safeguards. Neither side seems poised to back down. LTF, which favors a single national AI framework, told TechCrunch it plans to keep spending in the 2028 elections, while Guardrails Alliance says it wants to keep opposing candidates backed by the AI industry. Blaettler said that while LTF’s ads rarely touch on AI, instead focusing on popular issues for each candidate, Guardrail Alliance’s ads are specifically about who is taking money from the AI industry. “Our goal is to make AI money politically toxic,” Blaettler said.

各政治行动委员会（PAC）之间的主要争论点——无论它们是支持行业还是支持监管——在于国会是否应该建立一个凌驾于州法律之上的国家人工智能框架，还是各州应保留其各自实施保障措施的能力。双方似乎都不打算退让。支持单一国家人工智能框架的LTF告诉TechCrunch，它计划在2028年的选举中继续投入资金，而“护栏联盟”则表示希望继续反对受人工智能行业支持的候选人。布莱特勒表示，虽然LTF的广告很少涉及人工智能，而是专注于每位候选人的热门议题，但“护栏联盟”的广告专门针对谁在接受人工智能行业的资金。布莱特勒说：“我们的目标是让人工智能资金在政治上变得有毒。”