According to data from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks and publishes campaign finance and lobbying data, the number of groups lobbying the U.S. federal government on artificial intelligence jumped from 158 to 451 between 2022 and 2023, nearly tripling. Data on the total amount spent by groups on lobbying, as well as interviews with two congressional staffers, two nonprofit advocates familiar with AI lobbying, and two named experts, suggest that big tech companies have led the effort to pass AI legislation so far. And while the companies publicly support AI regulation, in private conversations with officials they tend to favor lighter-touch, voluntary rules, congressional staffers and advocates said.
In November 2022, OpenAI released the wildly popular chatbot ChatGPT. Six months later, leading AI researchers and industry executives signed a statement warning that “the risk of AI-induced extinction should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Lawmakers around the world took notice: US President Joe Biden signed a comprehensive AI executive order, the EU amended its landmark AI law to ensure that models powering chatbots like ChatGPT are regulated, and the UK government hosted the world’s first AI Safety Summit.
Read more: The three most important milestones for AI policy in 2023
While Congress has yet to pass any AI-specific legislation, there has been a flurry of AI-related activity on Capitol Hill, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hosting “Insight Forums” to educate lawmakers on the rapidly evolving technology. As the prospects of a substantive federal AI bill began to grow, lobbyists flocked to Capitol Hill to promote their organizations’ interests.
“Congress has obviously been crafting AI legislation for a long time, so this is nothing new. What’s new is the scale at which Congress is crafting and introducing legislation,” said Divyansh Kaushik, vice president at Beacon Global Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm. “That’s been a big driver of these efforts.”
New Faces
Of the 451 organizations that lobbied on AI in 2023, 334, nearly three-quarters of the total, were lobbying for the first time in 2023. Among the crop of new organizations trying to make time for congressional staff and lawmakers were some relatively new companies building cutting-edge AI models, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Cohere.
The OpenSecrets data is an imperfect measure. It tracks AI-specific lobbying by searching for the words “artificial intelligence” or “AI” on lobbying disclosure forms that organizations must file quarterly. Two congressional staffers TIME spoke to suggested the number of lobbyists they’ve met with privately is roughly the same. But they said AI has become a much more public topic of discussion than it used to be. “Everyone who comes and talks to us wants to talk about AI,” said one congressional staffer, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss discussions with lobbyists or advocates.
For example, companies such as payment card company Visa, pharmaceutical conglomerate GSK, and accounting firm Ernst & Young have begun mentioning AI in their lobbying disclosure documents. Corporate interests are also represented by industry associations such as BSA The Software Alliance. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and startup accelerator Y Combinator also lobbied on AI for the first time in 2023, according to an OpenSecrets analysis.
In 2023, many civil society organizations also lobbied on AI issues for the first time. The largest labor union federations in the United States, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Trade Unions, joined the fray, as did the top civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). More technology-focused civil society organizations, such as the Omidyar Network and the Mozilla Foundation, also joined the fray. Nonprofits focused on the threat future AI systems may pose to public safety, such as the AI Policy Center and the Center for AI Safety Action Fund, also made lobbying disclosures for the first time this year. Finally, several universities reported lobbying activity on AI in 2023, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University.
Big tech companies have deep pockets
All lobbying organizations are required to report how much they spend on lobbying, even though the legal definition of lobbying includes only directly discussing specific laws or regulations. But because this data is reported only as a general total, it’s impossible to know how much of this total each organization spent specifically on AI-related lobbying and how much on other policy issues. But by this broad measure, many new entrants are significantly outspending the big tech companies that have been ramping up their lobbying spending for a decade.
According to data provided by OpenSecrets, Amazon, Meta, Google parent Alphabet, and Microsoft each spent more than $10 million on lobbying in 2023. The Information Technology Industry Council, an industry group, spent $2.7 million on lobbying. By comparison, the Mozilla Foundation, a civil society group, spent $120,000, and the Center for AI Safety Action Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to AI safety, spent $80,000.
Given that the definition of lobbying only includes talking to staff about specific legislation, these figures likely underestimate how much tech companies are spending to influence lawmakers, said Hamza Choudhury, a U.S. policy expert at the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on the risks posed by advanced technology.
Several advocates and congressional aides suggested that the big tech companies’ consistent and big spending has allowed them to build sophisticated lobbying organizations that have dwarfed other organizations’ efforts thus far. “We’ve seen a wave of AI safety lobbying groups and a lot of civil society groups that have started to focus on AI, but it’s the tech groups that are by far the most prominent,” said another congressional staffer, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss discussions with lobbyists or advocates. Because tech companies can spend more, they can hire more experienced lobbyists who better understand the technical details of their work and have broader networks in Congress, the staffer said.
“But I would still say that private society (which includes academia and a variety of other people) will be outspent by big tech companies by 5 to 1, 10 to 1,” Choudhury said.
Public statements and private lobbying
So what exactly is the tech industry lobbying for? Some in the industry oppose regulating AI, arguing that it will stifle technological progress. In December 2023, Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said in a blog post that the firm would support political candidates who oppose regulations that stifle innovation.
But many of the companies involved in AI development have, at least publicly, been supportive in discussing potential regulation. Executives from newer companies developing cutting-edge AI models, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, have called for regulation during public hearing testimony and appearances at Insight Forums. Executives from more established, large technology companies have made similar statements. Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith, for example, has called for a federal licensing system and a new agency to regulate powerful AI platforms. Newer AI companies and established tech giants have both signed onto a voluntary White House-sponsored initiative aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI systems.
But in private meetings with congressional offices, the same companies are often less supportive of certain regulatory approaches, people said. In particular, they tend to advocate for very light regulation or self-regulation. “Any time you try to mandate anything on tech companies, they push back,” one congressional staffer said.
But others point out that while corporations sometimes pursue their own interests at the expense of the public interest, most lobbying efforts help to get smart legislation passed. “Most corporations, when they lobby, are trying to do their best to ensure that America’s national security and economic competitiveness are strengthened,” Kaushik says. “At the same time, of course, their bottom line is important.”
There is little time left for Congress to pass AI legislation before the presidential election, and whether the AI bill is passed in the coming months or not until the 119th Congress, lobbying efforts by both parties are likely to intensify as the legislation draws closer.
