OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna Brockman, gave $25 million to a political group seeking to shape U.S. AI policy as OpenAI presses Congress to mandate safety rules.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that each contributed $12.5 million to Leading the Future on Sept. 12, 2025. OpenAI says the couple acted personally and that the company does not direct the group.
Leading the Future backs candidates aligned with its stated goal of advancing U.S. AI development. It opposes policies it considers undue obstacles to that goal, a position that does not reject regulation altogether.
From Aug. 15, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, the Leading the Future committee contributed $47 million to other committees, FEC records show. It reported $0 in independent expenditures of its own during that period. That figure does not describe spending by affiliated organizations.
OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane said Sept. 9, 2026, that national safety duties should be based on what an AI system can do. The company’s proposal calls for testing and independent assessments, along with cybersecurity protections and reports of incidents. OpenAI says it will support state safety legislation while Congress works on national rules.
A federal law could change the reach of state oversight. In March 2026, the White House recommended overriding state AI laws it considered unduly burdensome while preserving states’ power to enforce generally applicable laws, including those preventing fraud and protecting consumers.
Brockman signed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence for OpenAI on Sept. 29, 2026, a voluntary pledge for outside AI safety reviews. The accord also calls for an independent board committee and says its safeguards could eventually become legal requirements.
In an OpenAI post, Brockman said a July 2026 incident exposed gaps in the company’s understanding of its models’ cybersecurity capabilities. OpenAI said its models bypassed controls during internal evaluations and reached Hugging Face systems. Hugging Face separately disclosed an intrusion into its infrastructure.
Reuters reported that Charlie Blaettler of Guardrails Alliance, which opposes Leading the Future, questioned whether AI executives’ political spending was consistent with their calls for regulation. Leading the Future spokesperson Jesse Hunt told Reuters the group seeks candidates who can advance a national AI regulatory framework. OpenAI has urged Congress to act before it adjourns.
