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AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

ft.com

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Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#41

Post by Aurornis »

01284a7e wrote: post #5
simonw wrote: post #4

> OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditure to a record $2.22mn in the first half of 2026, compared to last year, while Anthropic nearly tripled its spending to $3.53mn, according to federal disclosures. Never ceases to amaze me how cheap lobbying is. That's pocket change for these companies.

It's so cheap that normal people could band together and re-buy democracy. It's the banding together part that is hard.

This is what a PAC is. Political Action Committee.

They primarily only get headlines for outrage topics when people don’t like what they’re pushing toward. Many of the top PACs are from groups like realtors or sheet metal workers lobbying for their interests.

Most people skip PACs and donate straight to political candidates instead. Individual donations to candidates outweigh anything the AI companies are spending by a huge number.

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#42

Post by CSSer »

Aurornis wrote: post #41
01284a7e wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so cheap that normal people could band together and re-buy democracy. It's the banding together part that is hard.

This is what a PAC is. Political Action Committee. They primarily only get headlines for outrage topics when people don’t like what they’re pushing toward. Many of the top PACs are from groups like realtors or sheet metal workers lobbying for their interests. Most people skip PACs and donate straight to political candidates instead. Individual donations to candidates outweigh anything the AI companies are spending by…

Yes, and it’s trivial to form one! If you look up the documentation necessary you may not believe your eyes.

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#43

Post by jerf »

simonw wrote: post #4

> OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditure to a record $2.22mn in the first half of 2026, compared to last year, while Anthropic nearly tripled its spending to $3.53mn, according to federal disclosures. Never ceases to amaze me how cheap lobbying is. That's pocket change for these companies.

Compared to the bailout they're going to get at some point, because they're vital to national security and whatever, I think you could easily be looking at a 1000x+ return on investment on those numbers.

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#44

Post by [deleted] »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #21
simonw wrote: post #4

> OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditure to a record $2.22mn in the first half of 2026, compared to last year, while Anthropic nearly tripled its spending to $3.53mn, according to federal disclosures. Never ceases to amaze me how cheap lobbying is. That's pocket change for these companies.

These numbers are so small that I'm doubly ashamed of all the corruption happening. If politicians at least sold out for fuck-you money, I'd understand, but no.

[deleted]

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#45

Post by peterbell_nyc »

simonw wrote: post #4

> OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditure to a record $2.22mn in the first half of 2026, compared to last year, while Anthropic nearly tripled its spending to $3.53mn, according to federal disclosures. Never ceases to amaze me how cheap lobbying is. That's pocket change for these companies.

Wow - so one really good researchers salary/stock grant. I feel like they're underinvesting...

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#46

Post by salemh »

triceratops wrote: post #8
01284a7e wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so cheap that normal people could band together and re-buy democracy. It's the banding together part that is hard.

Normal people can't offer speaking fees, consulting gigs, and other sinecures to politicians and their staffers after they leave the government.

[dead]

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#47

Post by mb5 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #32
renegade-otter wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think of that Netflix series on FIFA and its rampant corruption. The bribes in question are laughable, considering that FIFA is a multi-billion dollar operation, and it's always some round number like $1M. At least add some cents to it so it's not glaringly obvious in the bank accounts.

Are the bribes round, or is it just usual bullshit journalism practice of fudging the numbers and rounding them in the process (usually made apparent when there are multiple reports for the same number, each using different units of currency or measure).

Plenty of nice round numbers in this indictment: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/file/450211/dl?inline

Search for “Wire transfer of” to jump to them.

Plus a couple of $1,666,667 which stand out in contrast to all the zeroes.

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#48

Post by wat10000 »

bena wrote: post #16
simonw wrote: post #4

> OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditure to a record $2.22mn in the first half of 2026, compared to last year, while Anthropic nearly tripled its spending to $3.53mn, according to federal disclosures. Never ceases to amaze me how cheap lobbying is. That's pocket change for these companies.

Because lobbying is essentially just the process of petitioning the government. Mostly. It's buying dinners so you can talk with a Representative or Senator one-on-one. It's traveling to D.C. or the Congressperson's home state. It's paying for studies and etc to support your points. It's financing campaigns of politicians who already agree with your viewpoints. It's not "here's money, make law".

It's also financing campaigns of politicians who don't agree with your viewpoints in the (fully justified) hope that they'll look upon you more favorably if they win. It's thinly veiled promises of cushy jobs after they leave office, if they play ball.

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#49

Post by runarberg »

01284a7e wrote: post #5
simonw wrote: post #4

> OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditure to a record $2.22mn in the first half of 2026, compared to last year, while Anthropic nearly tripled its spending to $3.53mn, according to federal disclosures. Never ceases to amaze me how cheap lobbying is. That's pocket change for these companies.

It's so cheap that normal people could band together and re-buy democracy. It's the banding together part that is hard.

It would not surprise me that the cost of lobbying rises exponentially as the policy moves left on the political spectrum. That pro-business, pro-austerity, neo-liberal policy is orders of magnitude cheaper to lobby for, then pro-worker, pro-democracy, pro-consumer policy.

Re: AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

#50

Post by smallmancontrov »

0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #20
jonas21 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the groups that spend the most on lobbying are composed of "normal" people who have banded together for some common interest. For example: - The AARP ($21M annual spend) has 38M members - The National Association of Realtors ($54M annual spend) has 1.5M members - The American Medical Association ($24M annual spend) has 300K members Of course that doesn't mean that their interests necessarily align with your i…

Also if they want my money then their interests align.

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." - Adam Smith
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