OpenAI did not respond to questions about its lobbying efforts.
But perhaps more importantly, the disclosure marks the company’s emergence as a political player as Republicans begin to take control of Washington after a first year of serious lobbying. That’s what it means. While OpenAI’s lobbying spending still dwarfs its peers (Meta tops the list of Big Tech spenders with more than $24 million in 2024), it and other The increase comes as AI companies have helped reshape AI policy.
For the past few years, AI policy has been a game of whack-a-mole against the risks posed by deepfakes and misinformation. But over the past year, AI companies have begun to position the technology’s success as critical to national security and U.S. competitiveness, arguing that the government needs to help the industry grow. As a result, OpenAI and others now appear poised to take advantage of cheaper energy, lucrative national security contracts, and a looser regulatory environment indifferent to the details of AI safety.
While major corporations appear to be more or less aligned in this grand narrative, chaotic disagreements on other issues still threaten to shatter the harmony displayed at President Trump’s inauguration this week. .
AI regulation began in earnest after ChatGPT was launched in November 2022. At that point, “a lot of the conversation was about responsibility,” said Leanna Keesing, technology reform campaign manager at Issue One, a democracy nonprofit that tracks Big Tech’s influence.
Companies were asked how they would deal with deepfake images of sexual abuse and election disinformation. “Sam Altman came on board early to help with that process and did a really good job of portraying himself,” Keesing says.
OpenAI began official lobbying activities around October 2023, and hired Chan Park, former legal advisor to the Senate Judiciary Committee and lobbyist for Microsoft, to lead this effort. Lawmakers, especially then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, were vocal about wanting to limit this particular damage. OpenAI has hired Schumer’s former lawyer, Reginald Babin, as a lobbyist, according to OpenSecrets data. This summer, the company hired veteran political operative Chris Lehane as head of global policy.
OpenAI’s previous disclosures confirm that the company’s lobbyists have since spent much of the last year focused on bills such as the Anti-Fake Act and the Protecting Elections from Deceptive AI Act. The bill was not passed. However, as the years passed, the regulatory goals for AI companies began to change. “One of the biggest changes we’ve seen is that they’re really starting to focus on energy,” Keesing says.
