Anthropic has announced a $20 million donation to Public First Action, a group dedicated to promoting the establishment of regulatory "guardrails" for artificial intelligence. Public First Action plans to support 30 to 50 bipartisan candidates in state and federal elections. The organization has already launched advertisements supporting Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn and Nebraska Republican Pete Ricketts.

Anthropic, an AI laboratory noted for its focus on AI regulation and safety, is injecting $20 million into the political arena ahead of the 2026 U.S. elections. The company announced the donation to Public First Action on Thursday. The group challenges the AI industry by supporting candidates across party lines. It recently launched six-figure ad campaigns backing Republican candidates Blackburn and Ricketts, who advocate for AI regulation.

Blackburn, currently a U.S. Senator, is running for Governor of Tennessee and has previously led legislation on children's online safety. Ricketts, who is seeking re-election, introduced a bill this year to restrict the sale of advanced U.S. chips to China.

Public First Action is led by former Congressmen Brad Carson and Chris Stewart. Carson stated in an interview with CNBC that the group aims to support approximately 30 to 50 candidates in the current election cycle, with a fundraising target of $50 to $75 million.

This amount is significantly less than the $125 million raised so far by Leading the Future, a political action committee supporting the AI industry. Donors to this PAC include technology investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, angel investor Ron Conway, and AI software startup Perplexity.

Carson claimed public opinion is on their side. A Gallup poll released in September showed that 80% of respondents desire AI safety and data security rules, even if it slows the pace of technological development.

"Leading the Future is dominated by three billionaires with close ties to Trump, who have a specific stance on AI regulation and want to 'buy' the regulatory narrative," Carson said. "We believe AI regulation should be more democratically accountable."

In a blog post, Anthropic stated the need for policies to "manage risks" while "maintaining effective safeguards, promoting job growth, protecting children, and requiring true transparency from companies building the most powerful AI models."

David Sacks, who led AI and cryptocurrency affairs during the Trump administration, criticized Anthropic in October. This followed an article by the company's co-founder and current head of policy, Jack Clark, titled "Techno-Optimism and Moderate Fear," which sparked online debate about AI regulation.

Sacks posted on X that Anthropic is "executing a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering" and accused the company of being "primarily responsible for the current wave of state-level regulations that is harming the startup ecosystem."

Two months later, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a unified AI regulatory framework, reducing the regulatory power of individual states, particularly those led by Democrats like California and New York.