A new political operation with strong ties to the Trump administration is preparing to spend big money to boost President Trump’s record on artificial intelligence.
The group, called Innovation Council Action, said on Sunday that it would spend at least $100 million this year on its activities. That will include a major advocacy push behind new A.I. policy guidelines unveiled by the White House this month that seek to block state laws regulating A.I. The group is organized as a nonprofit, but is likely to start a super PAC as part of that $100 million push. That structure would allow Innovation Council to help backers and attack opponents of Mr. Trump’s A.I. agenda.
The group is yet another indication of the volume of money that is to be spent by the A.I. industry on the midterms. Several other political operations backed by the industry have also raised tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars — but are more bipartisan.
That approach has rankled some senior officials on the right, who have been pushing for a narrower Republican operation given how supportive Republicans in Washington, including Mr. Trump, have largely been of the A.I. industry.
Innovation Council, by contrast, is explicitly aligned with the Trump operation. It is led by Taylor Budowich, a longtime Trump political adviser who served as White House deputy chief of staff, and has the blessing of David Sacks, a White House official.
“Innovation Council will play a critical role in advancing the innovation agenda championed by President Trump and this administration,” Mr. Sacks said in a statement. “We welcome its support at this important juncture.”
Mr. Sacks announced last week that he was leaving his role as the administration’s A.I. and crypto czar, but he is still keeping his role as the primary go-between for Washington and Silicon Valley as the new co-head of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
The Innovation Council started out of conversations between Mr. Sacks and Mr. Budowich last summer about how the artificial intelligence industry could engage more seriously in politics, according to a person close to the group.
Polling has shown that many Americans are unsettled about the pace of A.I. innovation. The nonprofit plans to circulate messaging to lawmakers on matters like data centers and also to use questionnaires to identify lawmakers who are friendly or unfriendly to Mr. Trump’s A.I. agenda.
As a so-called “dark money” nonprofit, the group is not required to disclose its donors. It filed incorporation paperwork in Utah last October. Any super PAC would be required to list contributors. Its existence was earlier reported by Axios.
Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering billionaires and their impact on the world.
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