Anthropic ramps up its political activities with a new PAC

Anthropic has filed documents to create a new political action committee — a sign that, like its peers, the AI lab is committing significant resources towards influencing policy and regulation.

AnthroPAC plans to make contributions to both parties during the midterms, including to current D.C. lawmakers and rising political candidates. The PAC will be funded by voluntary employee contributions capped at $5,000, Bloomberg reports. A statement of organization filed with the Federal Election Commission includes a signature by Allison Rossi, Anthropic’s treasurer. TechCrunch reached out to Anthropic for more information.

AI companies, which are comrades and competitors in a new and often turbulent industry, have increasingly sought to push their preferred policies at the state and federal levels. The Washington Post reported last month that AI companies had already contributed a whopping $185 million to the midterm races. In February, the New York Times also reported on Public First, a new Super PAC that had reportedly received at least $20 million from Anthropic, and which had financed ad campaigns supporting a particular regulatory agenda.

Anthropic’s political activities have ramped up as the company continues to be enmeshed in a nasty legal battle with the Defense Department. The dispute erupted earlier this year over the government’s use of Anthropic’s AI models and what guidelines (if any) should exist for that usage.