OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia had record lobbying quarters

Anthropic, OpenAI, and Nvidia each had their highest-spending lobbying quarter between July and September, according to federal disclosures. Nvidia led with $2.2 million, followed by Anthropic at $2.1 million and OpenAI at $1.5 million. While these sums are not unusual compared to Big Tech veterans like Microsoft and Google, they show the AI firms' push to shape policy. The lobbying surge coincided with a White House lunch with President Donald Trump in late September that produced a "morally binding" AI safety accord, and came just before Trump named his AI czar and task force. Anthropic lobbied on numerous topics, including AI provisions in the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), export controls in the AI Overwatch Act, Trump's executive order renaming AI "Super Intelligence," and the Ratepayer Protection Act. OpenAI focused on copyright, cybersecurity evaluations for frontier models, AI safety oversight frameworks, and antitrust protections for information sharing, engaging Congress, the White House, the Small Business Administration, and the Commerce and State Departments. Nvidia lobbied on 6G networks, "responsible AI design," competition policy, quantum computing, and export controls. Apple also set a record with $3.1 million in lobbying, the first time it exceeded $3 million in a quarter, covering intellectual property, tariffs, kids online safety, competition, and domestic semiconductor manufacturing. The disclosures highlight that the leading AI companies are becoming increasingly active in policymaking ahead of the midterm elections, as issues like data center development and AI safety gain voter attention. OpenAI did not spend even $1 million on lobbying in a single quarter before this year, and Anthropic's previous quarterly high was just over $1 million; this is the first quarter Nvidia has spent more than $2 million.

(Source：The Verge)