Leading the Future, the largest pro-AI super PAC network, is emerging from the midterm elections with just over $20 million in deposits and dozens of winning congressional candidates from both parties. Yet the apparent success masks a more limited impact: most of its donations went to candidates who were already considered safe, while the few closely watched races where it intervened did not produce the results the network sought.
A pro-AI political network with major financial backing
When Leading the Future launched in August 2025, it pledged to oppose policies that stifle innovation. The group began with a war chest of about $100 million, backed by some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest technology figures, including Andreessen Horowitz, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman. The network was also supported by experienced political strategists.
Leading the Future was intended to operate as a “structured ecosystem” designed to provide “maximum flexibility for election cycles beyond 2026.” Its network includes 501(c)(4) organizations as well as federal and state super PACs operating on both sides of the political aisle.
American Mission primarily supports Republican candidates, while Think Big primarily supports Democrats. The network’s structure and overlapping strategists soon drew comparisons with Fairshake, a large, well-funded cryptocurrency super PAC network that dominated the 2024 election.
A strategy aimed at influencing AI policy
“They came out with guns blazing and said, don’t be afraid, we’re going to spend millions of dollars not only to influence how your legislators legislate for us, but to influence you against you in primaries and redistricting,” Sasha Howarth, executive director of the Technology Oversight Project, told WIRED.
“The goal was to bully legislators into silence and intimidate them into not having any involvement in AI safety or the regulation of the tech industry,” Howarth said.
Leading the Future did not respond to requests for comment.
The Alex Boaz primary became a test of the network’s influence
Late last year, Leading the Future targeted Democrat Alex Boaz, a former Palantir engineer and state lawmaker who ran on an AI safety platform in New York’s 12th Congressional District. The network spent millions of dollars on attack advertisements opposing his primary campaign.
“They fully expected to bury him, put his head on a spike and parade it around as proof that they could do that,” Howarth said.
Instead, Boaz’s campaign became a high-profile proxy battle between competing views of the future of artificial intelligence, increasing attention on both his candidacy and his policy platform. Public First, a pro-AI-safety network heavily funded by Anthropic, spent $15 million supporting Boaz.
Boaz did not win, but he finished second in a crowded primary behind Mika Lasher, another candidate who promoted technological responsibility and AI safety.
Source: www.wired.com