Backed by Anthropic, a Super PAC Begins an Ad Blitz in Support of A.I. Regulation

A new ad campaign on Monday warned northern New Jersey residents that Congress could leave them vulnerable to harm by artificial intelligence.

The ad, which opens with photos of A.I.-generated women smiling on social media alongside A.I.-generated headlines, urged voters to tell their House representative to vote against a bill that would block states from creating protections against A.I. scams.

“He can make sure A.I. serves us, not the other way around,” the ad said of Josh Gottheimer, the Democratic co-chair of the House’s new A.I. commission, which is expected to heavily influence legislation on the topic. “New Jersey families come before Big Tech’s bottom line.”

The $300,000 ad campaign was paid for by Public First Action, a super PAC backed by the A.I. start-up Anthropic. Focused on New Jersey, the campaign is likely to run several weeks — part of several similar initiatives by the super PAC nationally.

Anthropic, which said this month that it had poured $20 million into the PAC, has taken a different approach from much of the A.I. industry in calling for tough regulation of the technology it is creating. Public First was formed last year to battle other super PACs backed by the leaders and investors of the rival A.I. company OpenAI, which favors a light approach to regulation.

The advertising blitz is part of an escalating political war over A.I. in the run-up to the midterm elections. States and the federal government are at odds over how to regulate the technology. While President Trump has said A.I. regulation could slow down American companies and boost Chinese rivals, states are pushing ahead with their own laws. Companies see the November election as a crucial battleground.

Much of that fight will play out on television and online ad campaigns, as A.I. companies pressure candidates to do their bidding.

Leading the Future, the main industry-sponsored super PAC backed by venture capital investors and tech leaders, has raised more than $100 million and has $70 million in hand. Meta said last week that it was preparing to spend $65 million to fund two new super PACs this year to boost A.I.-friendly state politicians.

Brad Carson, a former Democratic representative of Oklahoma who is now co-head of Public First, recently lifted the super PAC’s fund-raising goal to $75 million after nearly hitting $50 million.

“We have a big tent of people on our side,” Mr. Carson said. “For the first time, our side has a voice and ammunition, which didn’t occur with crypto and social media.”

Anthropic, which was founded by former OpenAI executives, has become a rare tech industry voice calling for A.I. safeguards. The San Francisco company has backed state laws — including in its home state, California — that call for better testing and safety protections. Anthropic successfully lobbied against a provision added to Mr. Trump’s signature spending bill last year that would have blocked state A.I. regulations.

In September, the company hosted a glitzy policy event in Washington’s Union Station, with hundreds of lawmakers, congressional staff members, White House officials and journalists to mark their entry into A.I. lobbying.

“The public is on our side about this,” Anthropic’s chief executive, Dario Amodei, said at the event. “We don’t stand alone at all. It’s the tech companies that stand alone, no matter how many of them there are.”

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But Anthropic’s push for A.I. regulation is politically risky.

OpenAI has won favor with the Trump administration, but Anthropic and Mr. Amodei have been perceived as nuisances. Administration officials including David Sacks, the White House’s A.I. chief, have criticized Anthropic.

Last week, a dispute erupted between the company and the Department of Defense after Anthropic told officials that it did not want its A.I. used for mass surveillance of Americans or deployed in autonomous weapons without human guidance. Last Monday, a person close to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Axios that the Pentagon was “close” to declaring the start-up a “supply chain risk,” a move that would sever ties between the company and the U.S. military.

(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, over copyright infringement claims. Both companies have denied wrongdoing.)

Anthropic executives previously said they had spent at least five months working on a super PAC strategy before announcing their backing for Public First.

Much of Public First’s spending will fund ad campaigns, Mr. Carson said, focusing on educating voters on the need for A.I. regulations to protect child safety, jobs and national security. Public First has also run ads thanking Republican and Democratic lawmakers for supporting A.I. laws.

The group targeted Mr. Gottheimer, who is a leader on A.I. policy and has said he might be willing to oppose state laws if certain safeguards, like child safety, were protected.

Last week, Jobs and Democracy, a Public First PAC, spent $450,000 on ads supporting a Democratic New York assemblyman, Alex Bores. A computer science graduate, Mr. Bores has made tech regulation a pillar of his run for a House seat being vacated by Representative Jerry Nadler, the longtime Democrat of New York.

Mr. Bores successfully led efforts to pass the state’s RAISE Act, which requires large A.I. developers to publish safety standards and report serious security incidents. Public First ran the ads in response to attack ads by Leading the Future.

“Voters across the country want a clear national regulatory framework for A.I. that creates jobs for American workers, protects the public, secures American competitiveness and global leadership,” Leading the Future said in a statement. “Our organization has stepped up to support candidates and policymakers who share that goal.”

Political experts said it was unclear if the ad campaigns would move voters, who have consistently listed economics, health care and immigration as their top midterm priorities. But the sheer volume of mailers, TV and radio ads will create some debate.

“It’s going to force the issue into the midterms, and force candidates to take positions, whether voters view it as a priority or not,” said Evan Swarztrauber, a Republican tech strategist and former Federal Communications Commission official.

Cecilia Kang reports on technology and regulatory policy for The Times from Washington. She has written about technology for over two decades.

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