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Anthropic-Linked Public First Sets 2027 AI Agenda With $30 Million After Midterms

A memo from the AI safety group and its super PACs calls for federal AI laws that leave state rules intact and warns that the industry's political push is not over.

By Nakoda News Desk

·1 min read

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Public First Action, an AI safety group backed by Anthropic, has set out its legislative and political goals for 2027 and 2028.
Public First Action, an AI safety group backed by Anthropic, has set out its legislative and political goals for 2027 and 2028.Photo: Semafor

Public First Action, the AI safety advocacy group that receives significant funding from Anthropic, has set out its post-midterm plans, including a push for federal AI legislation that does not override state laws. The group has $30 million in the bank, according to a memo from Public First and its affiliated super PACs that was shared first with Semafor.

The memo matters because federal preemption of state AI rules has been the industry's main legislative goal, and Congress is about to change hands. Democrats won control of Congress in last week's midterms, campaigning on tougher oversight of the technology industry, and data centre expansion fared badly with voters. A safety lobby with money still to spend is betting that the new Congress gives it an opening.

In the memo, Public First said Leading the Future, the leading pro-AI super PAC, had a "crash out" in this cycle. It cautioned allies against complacency. "It would be a mistake to read this cycle and Leading the Future's decline as the end of Big Tech's AI political project," the group wrote, adding that a pro-safety organisation must be ready to "counter, toxify, and ultimately overcome" an industry-funded opposition campaign.

The group's goals for 2027 are getting Congress to pass AI laws that do not preempt state legislation, backing candidates who favour AI safety, and rebutting the industry's messaging. Its ambitions run beyond Washington. "Between now and 2028, we will make sure that AI is a top-tier issue in the presidential race, in every House and Senate race, and in gubernatorial, attorney general, and state legislative races," the memo said.

The plan will meet a White House that has its own line on AI rules. In a post-election interview, President Donald Trump said he does not mind safeguards and would work with Democrats on them, but that he will not accept rules that leave the United States behind China. That puts the preemption fight at the centre of any AI legislation in the next Congress.

Sources

  • Semafor · AI safety groups outline their plans for a new Washington
  • Axios · Jensen Huang spy scandal rocks AI race

Produced with AI assistance from the sources above. How we work

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