Anthropic’s donations can’t be used to influence elections — despite what everyone thought The company's money isn’t allowed to be used in the midterm battles. Without it, pro-safety candidates may be even more outgunned than expected

www.transformernews.ai/p/anthropic-...

🚨Scoop!

Anthropic's $20m donation to Public First Action was widely seen as the company joining-in on midterm spending.

But in a statement to Transformer, Anthropic that it's money cannot be used for elections influence, raising questions about how much money the pro-safety AI PACs have to spend.

AI’s next big blue battleground There’s a lot going on in Illinois

There's been a lot of AI regulation talk in Illinois, and we're not paying enough attention to it.

www.transformernews.ai/p/ais-next-b...

Six states, one playbook: the chatbot bills raising red flags Google’s intervened on at least three of the bills

Some safety advocates are wary this is an industry playbook for shaping AI safety regulation to their benefit on a state-by-state basis. I'm looking at this as a parallel story to what we're seeing now at the federal level:

www.transformernews.ai/p/six-states...

The language across these provisions is very very similar, sometimes identical, suggesting they may be derived from a model bill or industry lobbying. Google has been outspokenly supportive of three of the six bills I found.

Before the White House framework for AI regulation took over the news cycle this morning, I wrote a story about a series of strikingly similar AI chatbot bills. It's still relevant.

The bills include carve outs which shield AI companies from liability in certain circumstances.

How to buy an AI ‘grassroots’ movement Build American AI is touting its list of more than 500,000 supporters. It spent at least half a million dollars on ads to get it

www.transformernews.ai/p/how-to-buy...

How to buy an AI ‘grassroots’ movement Build American AI is touting its list of more than 500,000 supporters. It spent at least half a million dollars on ads to get it

Build American AI, the advocacy group spun out of industry-funded super PAC Leading the Future, has been touting a list of 500k+ “grassroots” supporters.

It turns out that “grassroots” group was harvested via paid ads costing at least half a million dollars.

Both sides claim the lead in AI’s high-stakes midterm race Polling from Public First shows Alex Bores in the lead in NY-12 — but polling from rival super PAC Leading the Future does not

AI-related super PACs have put $2.55 million into this race, casting Bores as a poster child for the fight over AI safeguards.

www.transformernews.ai/p/alex-bores...

Both sides claim the lead in AI’s high-stakes midterm race Polling from Public First shows Alex Bores in the lead in NY-12 — but polling from rival super PAC Leading the Future does not

🚨 First in Transformer: new polling puts Bores race for NY-12 significantly closer than was expected, signaling that super PAC money could be a deciding factor.

What the first AI elections tell us Transformer Weekly: The AI Campaign Finance Tracker, DoD vs Anthropic, and Commerce vs White House

www.transformernews.ai/p/what-the-f...

🗽I also checked in on Bores' campaign in NY-12, where the candidate's anti-Palantir narrative is showing some cracks. Politico reported this week that he held on to Palantir stock 3 months into his campaign, while an old colleague of his told me there was no "bad blood" when he left the company.

🇺🇸Some analysis from me on the Texas and North Carolina primaries this week. The elections give us a glimpse into the two major AI super PAC's opposing strategies.

Incredibly incredibly proud of this tracker my colleagues and I built, but that's not the only thing in the newsletter this week. We also have...

You can also see where employees of major AI firms are donating.

We plan to expand and improve the dashboard as the campaign cycle progresses. Let us know what other features you'd like to see!

The tracker pulls data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website so you can see who is spending money and where. In this initial version, you can track money raised and money spent by super PACs and how candidates they're supporting have fared in elections so far.

AI Campaign Finance Tracker | Transformer Track AI industry political spending: super PAC contributions, independent expenditures, and employee donations to federal candidates.

AI is playing a huge role in this year's midterm elections. To date, AI-focused super PACs have spent more than $9 million on the elections, and we're not even through the 1st quarter.

That's why @transformernews.ai has created the AI Campaign Finance Tracker.

elections.transformernews.ai

White House war on Utah AI bill could backfire Transformer Weekly: Kratsios in India, Anthropic vs the Pentagon and new Meta super PACs

The White House “took something that was potentially negotiable and turned it into something existential,” Toscano told me.

Read here: www.transformernews.ai/p/white-hous...

White House war on Utah AI bill could backfire Transformer Weekly: Kratsios in India, Anthropic vs the Pentagon and new Meta super PACs

Polling shows Utah Trump voters are even more upset about risks to children using AI than Trump voters nationally - and nationally, nearly 90% of Trump voters want the admin to prioritize child safety over tech industry growth.

The White House (presumably Sacks') efforts to block Utah's AI transparency is remarkable not only because it's sponsored by a Republican state lawmaker, but because the bill is focused on child safety protections — an issue the MAGA base consistently rallies around.

White House war on Utah AI bill could backfire Transformer Weekly: Kratsios in India, Anthropic vs the Pentagon and new Meta super PACs

In today's @transformernews.ai weekly briefing, I spoke with the Institute for Family Studies' Michael Toscano about why the White House is going against Trump's own voters on AI regulation in the state.

Happily, you don’t need to do much to trace any of this as we’re extremely transparent about it!

www.transformernews.ai/p/standards-...

Alex Bores wants to fix Dems’ AI problem Transformer Weekly: Anthropic’s political donations, energy bills policy, and an xAI exodus

In my first story for Transformer, I wrote about how Alex Bores' AI framework is a bellwether for Democratic messaging on AI:

www.transformernews.ai/p/alex-bores...

🚨In more dark money news:

Transformer has learned the 501(c)(4) Build American AI hosted the Chief's Reception, a gathering of Republican Senators' Chiefs of Staff, alongside the National Republican Senatorial Committee's Winter Retreat last Saturday.

👀

A recent press release put total funds raised even higher at $125million, with $70m cash on hand (FEC data is only updated through 12/31 as of now).

Nine months to go until the midterms...

That money comes by way of large donations from the likes of Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Greg and Anna Brockman, plus Joe Lonsdale to its Republican affiliate and Ron Conway to its Democratic affiliate.

The release states the ad buy is meant to counteract investment from Super PAC Leading the Future, which has targeted Bores.

Leading the Future has a more than $50m war chest, also according to FEC data.

🚨NEWS🚨: A new PAC called DREAM NYC launched a six figure ad buy for NY-12 in support of candidate Alex Bores, according to a press release.

DREAM NYC appears to be funded entirely by Anthropic's Daniel Ziegler, who gave $50k last year according to FEC data.

We've got all the vital AI news from every outlet you could read, and all the maddening discourse from every feed you could endlessly browse.

Consider our weekly newsletter a hub to stay on top of everything going on in the very dizzying world of AI.

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