WASHINGTON, D.C. — Leading the Future (LTF), the Silicon Valley super PAC network built to defeat candidates who support AI safeguards, had its only Democratic megadonor distance publicly reject it this week. Venture capitalist Ron Conway now “regrets his previous [$500,000] donation” to the group, according to Jay Carney, the former Obama press secretary who now runs Conway’s AI policy initiative, in an interview with Politico. Carney added, “Ron, if he had to do that over again, he wouldn’t make that donation [to Leading the Future].”

The break comes less than two weeks after OpenAI President Greg Brockman, one of LTF’s founding funders, abandoned a planned second $25 million contribution to the PAC, telling OpenAI employees he has “no plans to donate more at this time” and that he feels “terrible about the fact that LTF keeps reflecting on the company.”

“Brockman and Conway stepped back from Leading the Future because it was an embarrassment to them, not because their politics or goals have changed. Never forget that LTF was supposed to be the Fairshake of 2026 – using aggressive, bullying tactics to intimidate lawmakers into supporting AI laws only the industry wanted. Now that intense public backlash against Big Tech AI is growing exponentially, they’ve been forced to change their tune. Color me skeptical, but industry-backed organizations are only going to be interested in passing tech-friendly legislation that passes off costs and responsibility to the American people,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project.

OPEN QUESTIONS:

While Conway’s “regret” shows that Leading the Future’s power and relevancy is dwindling, this raises fresh questions about the super PAC network and how it plans to continue operating:

• Ron Conway and Greg Brockman have signaled that they will no longer fund Leading the Future. Will they commit to foregoing future checks for Build American AI, the network’s dark money vehicle?
• Ron Conway and Greg Brockman both donated considerable amounts under the premise that Leading the Future would replicate Fairshake’s successes. Has Leading the Future’s inability to impose its will on Congress impacted their decision to walk away from LTF?
• Leading the Future launched as a bipartisan operation, but has spent two-thirds of its money backing Republican candidates and attacking Democrats ($23 million of its $34 million total spend). Its only Democratic megadonor is distancing itself from the super PAC network. What credibility do they have left with Democrats?
• Ron Conway wrote checks to Leading the Future under the theory of the case that they would use smashmouth politics to bring Democrats to heel for Big Tech. With Conway putting Carney in charge of a similar Big Tech-funded operation, why should Democrats trust Conway and Big Tech to act in the party’s best interest after spending hundreds of millions to elect Trump and Congressional Republicans?

BACKGROUND:

• Leading the Future was caught red-handed using AI agents to pose as reporters to dig for dirt against pro-safety groups. LINK
• Leading the Future was caught funding dark-money, pro-industry influencer ads without disclosing the source of the funding. LINK
• Leading the Future was caught paying for sock puppet accounts to pose as pro-safety advocates that called for violence against AI CEOs. LINK
• The Campaign Legal Center has filed an FEC complaint alleging that Leading the Future is breaking the law by perverting the “subvendor loophole” to hide potentially unlawful coordination with candidates, payments to foreign vendors, payments to firms crafting ads, or payments to influencers. LINK
• Chris Lehane, Head of Global Affairs for OpenAI and founder of Leading the Future and Fairshake, tried to walk back LTF’s connections to the company, despite being funded largely by donations from President Greg Brockman. Examples of Lehane distancing the company from LTF are below:
  • Punchbowl Tech: OpenAI distances from Leading the Future
  • WIRED: Can OpenAI’s ‘Master of Disaster’ Fix AI’s Reputation Crisis?
  • Washington Post: The AI Influence Machine
  • Transformer: OpenAI isn’t being consistently candid about Leading the Future
• Leading the Future had to launch a 4th super PAC to distance itself from its already toxic entities. LINK
  • “The advocacy group is also launching a new super PAC — Building the Future (a 527) — to back state and federal candidates aligned with its agenda and oppose those who aren’t.”
• The National Republican Senatorial Committee had to issue a public-facing memo talking about how AI and data centers have become a weight around Senator Jon Husted’s neck in the Ohio Senate race – signaling that national Republicans wanted air cover from Big Tech.LINK
  • Leading the Future answered the NRSC’s call for air support, announcing pro-data center ads in Ohio, Kansas, and Wisconsin. LINK