OpenAI’s Greg Brockman won’t give another $25 million to the pro-AI super PAC, calling it a “distraction”

OpenAI’s president has stopped writing cheques to the biggest pro-AI super PAC. Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, will not give a planned second $25 million to Leading the Future, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, leaving their donations to the group at the $25 million they gave last year. The Wall Street Journal also reported the pullback.

“A distraction”

Leading the Future had said the couple meant to give $50 million across 2025 and 2026. But in a Slack message to OpenAI staff in June, seen by the Times, Brockman said he had no plans to donate more, calling the super PAC a distraction that kept reflecting back on the company.

That message came about ten days after OpenAI published a blog post distancing itself from outside political groups, saying none of them speaks for the company. OpenAI has said Brockman’s donations were made in a personal capacity.

The couple also gave $25 million to MAGA Inc., the main pro-Trump super PAC, in 2025, according to federal election filings. That isn’t affected by Wednesday’s report.

What Leading the Future does

Leading the Future, which is also backed by the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, spends money in congressional races to support candidates who favour light federal AI rules and to oppose those who want tougher ones. It has drawn criticism for campaigning against Alex Bores, the New York state lawmaker who wrote a state AI safety law and is running for Congress. Along with a rival network aligned with Anthropic, it is among the biggest spenders on AI in this year’s midterms, a point Barack Obama has been raising with Democrats.

The group has plenty of other money, so losing $25 million won’t stop it spending before November.

Why the timing matters

The news lands in a difficult week for the AI industry in Washington. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating OpenAI and Anthropic, the biggest labs have signed a voluntary safety pact at the White House, and voters are increasingly worried about AI ahead of the midterms. A super PAC tied to OpenAI’s co-founder attacking pro-safety candidates is the kind of story the company would rather not be in.

Update: staff pushback helped change Brockman’s mind

Internal Slack messages shared with Semafor on Friday show how hard OpenAI’s own staff pushed back. On June 1, chief strategy officer Jason Kwon told employees that Brockman’s support for Leading the Future “has been in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the company”. Replies questioned the group’s independence and warned that the company’s political activity could drive researchers to Anthropic; one post making that point drew 24 “agree” reactions. The next day Kwon conceded the company was “taking reputational hits”. Brockman’s message pulling the money came about ten days later.

A source familiar with the situation told Semafor that employee pushback was part of Brockman’s decision, but that his doubts began when the PAC went after Alex Bores, the New York safety advocate; Brockman had expected it to focus on backing allied candidates. OpenAI declined to comment to Semafor.

Why it matters

Brockman was the most prominent AI executive putting personal money into the fight against tougher AI rules. His decision to stop shows how political spending by AI insiders has become a liability for the companies they run, even as the industry keeps spending heavily to shape who writes those rules.

Sources: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal (September 30, 2026), Semafor (October 2, 2026).