REPORT: AI Giant Already Looking To 2028, Trying To Influence Candidates

OpenAI’s top lobbyist is trying to shape the way 2028’s top political contenders think about artificial intelligence, Politico reported Monday.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s top lobbyist, circulated sent a memo to top presidential candidates, arguing that candidates need to give voters a positive policy platform for AI, rather than just messaging about opposing data centers, according to Politico. The memo is reportedly being circulated as a way for these presidential hopefuls to consider policies ranging from tax policies, how AI can make life more affordable and how to beat China in the AI race.

“No historical analogy is perfect (thankfully, we’re not in a depression!), but 2028 has echoes of 1932: candidates must earn the trust of Americans who feel increasingly powerless in the face of disruptive technologies, powerful financial interests, accelerating change, and the erosion of institutions that once anchored daily life,” the memo, which was obtained by Politico, stated. “AI threatens to compound that anxiety through a transformation whose consequences no one can fully predict. It is a general purpose technology on the scale of the wheel, the printing press, and electricity.”

OpenAI sent the memo to roughly six prospective presidential candidates as well as some lawmakers and notable political operatives, a person with knowledge of the memo told the outlet, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.

Instead, Lehane called for a “third path” between pursuing AI without “speed limits” and those who would “keep control over the technology in the hands of a self-appointed elite,” per the memo.

He said that one-fifth of the ads Democrats aired in the midterm elections attacking data centers are concentrated in Michigan, Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where many of the data centers being built, adding that Democrats may not be able to provide the “answer 2028 voters are looking for” based on their anti-data center midterm messaging.

Lehane, a Democratic operative and former press secretary to then-Vice President Al Gore, charged that if America loses its lead against China in the AI race, this could be the “2028 version of the 2002 vote to go to war in Iraq.”

The memo called for advancing tax policy that would help Americans benefit from the “upside” of the AI boom, protecting children while expanding opportunity and ensuring that AI can help make life more affordable for Americans.