It’s not the end of the world and they know it.
Anthropic has helped seed a growing AI panic in Congress through an aggressive influence campaign, as the company and its rivals pour tens of millions into a spending war that’s just getting started — and some lawmakers say it’s a disguised power grab using safety concerns to freeze out the competition.
The company, which is pushing Congress to impose new regulatory “guardrails” on the AI industry, has poured $40 million through two donations to the super PAC Public First Action, with a $20 million check arriving in late July.
In one key race, Public First Action handed $3 million to a PAC backing state Assemblyman Alex Bores (D-Manhattan) — part of a $10 million effort by Anthropic-affiliated groups. Bores lost to fellow Dem Assemblyman Micah Lasher, who benefited from rival AI firms, including OpenAI-linked Leading the Future, tearing into his opponent.
The board of Anthropic, creator of the Claude chatbot, is now stocked with political players, including Netflix founder Reed Hastings, who along with his wife Patty Quillen gave more than $20 million to Democrats in recent years.
Public First Action has kept most of its powder dry, disclosure reports show — though it pumped roughly $100,000 into an ad touting Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), who wrote in a 2026 candidate survey that “government oversight is essential to address the real harms AI can cause.”
But some in Congress suspect the AI companies’ real target isn’t safety — it’s the control and manipulation of a marketplace they dominate.
“You get a benefit from regulation because it hinders your competitors,” said James Andrew Lewis, a former US diplomat and researcher with the Center for European Policy Analysis who has helped negotiate cybersecurity deals. He said of Anthropic cofounder Dario Amodei: “He might actually believe some of this stuff, but I’d say self-interest really explains it more.”
“It looks like there’s a split, so you’re going to have half the rich companies lobbying for, and half the rich companies lobbying against, and that means it’s gridlocked,” he added.
The fight boils down to a fundamental disagreement over what AI regulation would actually accomplish: Anthropic argues that increasingly powerful models demand stronger oversight — including independent evaluation, transparency rules and the power to block risky deployments — while critics warn that rules built around today’s biggest players could box out smaller competitors and developers just as Congress faces mounting pressure to act.
“Maybe this is a backdoor attempt to prompt Congress to start pushing significant federal regulatory regime on AI,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — though he added he wasn’t sure that was the case. “When all of a sudden there’s a massive new federal regulatory overlay, established market incumbents have an advantage against would-be competitors.”
Looming as a counterweight is Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who wants to slap a 50% tax on AI to create a $7 billion sovereign wealth fund. He also wants to impose a permanent ban on development of super intelligent AI.
Lawmakers are getting the message. On Wednesday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) called for committee action on legislation to try to slap guardrails and a “kill switch” on AI.
Anthropic’s latest lobbying disclosure filed in July showed $2 million in just three months – $400,000 more than its April report, and $1 million more than it spent in the last quarter of 2025.
“I think they’re trying to capture the regulatory agency before there is one,” Sen Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Post. “I think the best way we can avoid the problems that AIs have is to have competition — a bunch of them as opposed to one or two government-sanctioned ones.”
But Anthropic is playing both sides as it gears up for a corporate fight in Congress: its PAC has handed out a total of $350,000 to Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm.
The Post has reached out to Anthropic for comment.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) blamed the “unnecessary hysteria” on being 48 days from the election.
Some lawmakers were anticipating last week that Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon’s dire warning that AI could “kill us all” might spur sudden legislative action. But Daines said he doesn’t see Congress doing anything before November.
President Trump this week called AI fears a “hoax.”
The legislative brawl won’t be just in DC. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom told Politico that he may call a special session to take up the issue — inviting a clash of tech firms in Silicon Valley’s backyard.
