Move Over Crypto Bros, the AI PACs Are Here to Buy the Next Election

The crypto community was able to help buy itself a friendly administration in the 2024 election by pouring money into political action committees, and now the AI industry looks like it is planning to follow the playbook heading into the midterms. According to CNBC, the biggest PAC in the game has already picked its first target: a Democratic congressional candidate who helped pass a bill creating guardrails for AI.

The Leading the Future PAC—which counts among its backers billionaire Marc Andreesseen of Andreesseen Horowitz fame, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale—reportedly has over $100 million in its coffers already, with the intention of pushing candidates who are willing to work with the AI industry (read: not regulate it).

Alex Bores, a New York State Assembly member who is running for Congress in 2026, does not meet the criteria. He was the co-sponsor of the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, which was New York’s first significant attempt to require major AI companies to implement safety measures to mitigate any catastrophic disasters. The bill, which has overwhelming support from New Yorkers according to polling, passed in the New York state assembly and senate without issue, but still sits on Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk, unsigned, as she navigates her relationship with AI companies operating in the state.

The bill is not exactly burdensome, requiring the biggest players in the AI space to identify potential safety risks, create plans to mitigate them, and not release models that could cause undue harm should they go off the rails. That, in the eyes of the Leading the Future PAC, is simply too much to ask. Per CNBC, the group called Bores’ bill “ideological and politically motivated legislation†that would “handcuff†American firms racing to build superintelligence. Whether they’re actually capable of doing so or not, and whether it’d be good if they did, are apparently questions not super-worth asking in the eyes of the PAC.

One of the Leading the Future PAC’s complaints is valid. It said, “America needs one clear and consistent national regulatory framework for AI.†The thing is, we don’t have that. The Trump administration doesn’t want that. And many of the people funneling cash into the PAC have Trump’s ear. So it makes one wonder if the call for a national regulatory framework is legitimate or just an excuse to oppose the state taking action where the federal government won’t. Technically, no framework is a consistent one—just not one that anyone outside the industry is probably all that excited about.

For what it’s worth, Leading the Future’s decision to target Bores seems to have lit a fire under the candidate. In response to the group’s claims that the bill is “uninformed,†Bores fired back to CNBC, “I am someone with a master’s in computer science, two patents, and nearly a decade working in tech. If they are scared of people who understand their business regulating their business, they are telling on themselves.†He also turned the attack into a fundraising opportunity, asking for contributions on X by saying, “If you don’t want Trump mega-donors writing all tech policy, contribute to help us pushback.†That’s not a bad pitch.