AI giants are funding ad wars in races across the country
AI-backed groups have spent millions supporting and opposing Bores in a Manhattan congressional primary over his record on AI safety.

SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYThe Los Angeles Times is an established national news organization with professional reporting and editorial standards. The article names its author and includes multiple attributed sources, though no specific corrections or transparency practices are demonstrated here.
- Source type — Established national news outlet with a substantial reporting operation.
- Editorial standards — The reporting attributes claims and quotations to named sources.
- Author attribution — The article identifies its reporter.
- Transparency — The article names sources and organizations but offers no specific corrections or methodology information.
The report provides specific spending figures, names the groups and candidates involved, and includes views from campaign participants and policy observers. It gives limited direct response from the companies or groups whose spending it describes, and some spending attributions are framed as links or reported involvement.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The report describes spending tied to both AI companies and includes opposing campaign arguments in the Bores and Maloy races. It also quotes experts and a candidate who says outside spending disadvantaged him, though direct responses from the companies and PACs are limited.
- Source diversity — Includes campaign participants, policy experts and a campaign-spending researcher.
- Counterarguments presented — Presents contrasting claims about AI regulation and ads supporting and opposing Bores.
- Omitted context — Direct comment from the companies or PACs on the spending and allegations is limited.
- Loaded language — Some vivid descriptions appear, but the reporting generally attributes judgments to quoted sources.
The article uses mostly descriptive language and attributes opinions to candidates, experts and organizations. It reports on spending by both networks and presents competing arguments about AI regulation without a discernible partisan framing.
- Language tone — The wording is predominantly descriptive, with quoted evaluative claims attributed to their speakers.
- Source selection — The article includes candidates, policy observers and campaign-spending experts.
- Framing — The story focuses on political spending and competition between AI companies rather than endorsing a candidate or policy position.
Super PACs linked to OpenAI and Anthropic have spent more than $38 million on ads in congressional races, including campaigns involving Rep. Celeste Maloy and House candidate Alex Bores. The spending reflects a clash over how AI should be regulated and has raised questions about outside money's influence in primaries.
Super PAC networks linked to OpenAI and Anthropic have spent more than $38 million so far in the 2026 midterm elections, the article reports. The groups have backed candidates in races across the country, and their competing views on AI regulation are reflected in their political spending. The article says one network is linked to OpenAI and the other to Anthropic, which supports more stringent regulation and state laws.
In New York's Manhattan Democratic congressional primary, both networks spent more than $7.5 million supporting or opposing Alex Bores, whose state law requires major AI companies to disclose safety protocols and report safety incidents. In Utah, an Anthropic-backed group spent more than $950,000 supporting Rep. Celeste Maloy. Maloy and her opponent, Phil Lyman, both called for greater transparency around a proposed data center, while Lyman questioned the group's support for Maloy.
Community verdict
VOTING CLOSEDNo good or bad look here
This story reports what happened without casting Bores in a good or bad light, so readers don’t rate it and it doesn’t count toward Bores’s record.
People in this story
SWIPE →New York state assemblymember and House candidate targeted by AI-backed PAC spending
Representative and candidate in Utah's 3rd Congressional District
Maloy's version of this story ↗New York state assemblymember and House candidate
Representative and Oregon primary candidate
President of the United States
Former president
New York House candidate
Montana Republican congressional primary candidate
Maloy's predecessor in Congress and a co-founder of a political group
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