“This flailing around belies Big Tech’s desperation as its CEOs sense the tide of public opinion shifting against them.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, The Tech Oversight Project slammed the OpenAI, Palantir, and Andreessen Horowitz-funded dark money network for laundering its pro-industry talking points through undisclosed influencer ads on TikTok and Instagram. In a bombshell piece from Taylor Lorenz published in WIRED, Build American AI, the non-profit arm of AI super PAC Leading the Future, was caught red-handed using shady vendors to cultivate relationships with “left-of-center” influencers whose audiences were geared toward “left-leaning female lifestyle and family.” The funding behind the advertisements was not disclosed, and the request for comment on the supposed left-leaning content was answered by a Republican operative.
This is the second time in as many weeks that Leading the Future and its affiliates have been publicly shamed for using shady and unethical tactics. Research from The Midas Project exposed that Leading the Future was behind a fake news site that was run by GOP lobbyists – using AI bots to pose as actual reporters to dig up dirt on Big Tech watchdogs and AI Safety advocates.
“Big Tech’s AI super PACs are peddling the outright lie that families have to choose between protecting our national security and our civil rights, privacy, and children. Running sketchy ads without disclosing the source speaks volumes about Big Tech’s disdain for everyday people and the struggles families will face if we let them write the rules of the road,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project. “Americans across the country are anxious about AI and want to see safeguards written into law. Yet instead of engaging in good faith, tech companies lobby for bills that exempt them from accountability and seek to influence the debate by buying off influencers and bullying politicians. This flailing around belies Big Tech’s desperation as its CEOs sense the tide of public opinion shifting against them.”
Below are excerpts from Lorenz’s piece in WIRED:
Marketing agencies are pitching influencers deals such as $5,000 per TikTok video to amplify Build American AI’s messaging about how China’s technological rise should be seen as a threat. The goal, according to a staffer from SM4, the influencer marketing agency running the campaign on behalf of Build American AI, is to subtly shift public debate by framing China’s AI advancement as a serious risk to the safety and well-being of Americans.
“They want a push to mention China and America and why beating China is so important,” says the staffer.
Sample messaging provided by Build American AI to content creators includes lines like “I just learned that China is trying really hard to beat the US in AI. If they do, it could mean that China gets personal data from me and my kids, and take jobs that should be here in the US. In the AI innovation race, I’m Team USA!!!”
WIRED first learned about the campaign after this article’s author was invited by SM4 to participate. The details were later confirmed by several other content creators who received similar outreach.
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But influencers are not bound by journalistic ethical standards, and many do not always disclose who is funding their work. Well-funded super PACs and dark-money groups have capitalized on that reality by funneling cash into influencer marketing agencies that pay content creators to promote specific narratives. As a result, many people scrolling their social feeds are likely unaware that they’re absorbing political messaging from corporate interests.
In early April, for example, Megan Linke, a family and kids sports influencer, posted an Instagram video explaining how AI helps her stay organized. “AI is changing everything, and it’s important we keep building it here in the US,” she says in the voice-over. Around the same time, Uche Madson, another motherhood influencer based in Virginia, posted a video telling her 412,000 Instagram followers that she thinks “it’s important we invest in American AI so America leads the way in AI innovation and job creation.”
Both influencers labeled the posts as advertisements but did not disclose who the advertisements were for or that they had been paid for as part of a campaign for Build American AI. Linke and Madson did not respond to requests for comment from WIRED.
According to a briefing document that Build American AI provided to influencers, the organization is now seeking to “extend beyond left-leaning female lifestyle and family [content creators] to focus on left-leaning influencers who are political commentators, business/tech leaders, and male lifestyle influencers.”
