Pledged $50 million but only delivered half: OpenAI president's political donations anger employees, campaign also falls short of expectations

Beating AI News Flash: OpenAI President Greg Brockman, at The Wall Street Journal's Tech Conference, once again responded to the political donations that previously sparked controversy. He and his wife Anna had originally pledged to donate $50 million to the political organization Leading the Future (LTF), but actually donated only $25 million, and have decided not to pay the remaining amount.

Brockman explained that the couple has always believed that AI safety and innovation should go hand in hand, but LTF's political activities were perceived by outsiders as opposing AI safety, deviating from their original intentions.

LTF was founded in 2025, backed by multiple Silicon Valley billionaires, and advocates promoting a unified US AI regulatory standard while limiting states from setting stricter rules on their own. The organization supports pro-AI candidates through political advertising and has also spent about $8 million in an attempt to prevent the election of Democratic candidate Alex Bores, who promoted New York AI safety legislation.

The donation sparked months of controversy inside OpenAI. On June 1 this year, OpenAI issued a special statement emphasizing that the company did not donate to LTF and that Brockman's political activities were entirely personal. But WIRED previously disclosed that OpenAI's global affairs head Chris Lehane had helped set up LTF and also advised Brockman on his political donations.

Internal Slack messages obtained by Semafor showed that some employees worried that LTF's aggressive approach would damage OpenAI's reputation and even drive away researchers who prioritize AI safety. Brockman himself was also displeased with LTF's attacks on Bores. He had originally hoped the organization would focus more on supporting like-minded candidates rather than attacking others.

On June 11, Brockman ultimately apologized on internal Slack, acknowledging that LTF had brought unnecessary trouble to the company and announcing that he would stop further donations. This decision was not exposed by the media until the end of September.

Now, LTF's fundraising and electoral performance are also less impressive than its initial momentum. According to disclosures from the US Federal Election Commission, the organization has received no new donations since February this year, and as of October 14, only about $23.82 million remained in its account.

WIRED's review of the U.S. midterm elections found that LTF invested approximately $26 million during the primary phase but scaled back to about $10 million during the general election. While many of the candidates it supported won, most came from districts that were already highly likely to win. In the few fiercely contested races, the candidates it backed suffered consecutive defeats.

An LTF spokesperson denied that the organization is retreating, emphasizing that this is a long-term plan spanning multiple election cycles, with the goal remaining to help candidates supportive of AI development enter Congress.