Greg Brockman stops paying into Leading the Future after $25 million of a $50 million pledge
OpenAI president Greg Brockman has stopped at $25 million of the $50 million he and his wife pledged to the Leading the Future super PAC. The stop followed objections from his own staff, while industry money keeps reaching the midterms through ads that mostly leave AI out.
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What happened
- Leading the Future told the Times in February that the second $25 million would arrive in the first quarter of 2026, but it came in neither the first nor the second quarter.
- In July, a group of OpenAI employees said they would pool more than $200,000 for the Guardrails Alliance, a super PAC set up to counter Leading the Future.
- Leading the Future still had about $43 million on hand at the end of June and had taken $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz, according to the Times.
- OpenAI is among the backers of the American Infrastructure Alliance, which Axios says will work with local politicians to head off data center moratoriums from next year.
Why it matters
- Who has to decide decision Executives who give large sums in a personal capacity now have to plan for staff who treat the gift as company policy, because OpenAI's personal-capacity label did not settle the dispute inside OpenAI.
- What doesn't add up contradiction OpenAI's public distance from outside political groups stops at one PAC, since its backing of a new anti-moratorium group keeps the company on the same side of the data center fight.
- What it sets up precedent If AI-aligned PACs keep leaving AI out of their ads, voters angry about data centers will have little in the ads themselves to show which candidates the industry is backing.
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In June, OpenAI employees opened a Slack message from their president about the super PAC some of them had criticised [3][10]. "I also want to say that I feel terrible about the fact that LTF keeps reflecting on the company and become so much of a distraction for people here," Greg Brockman wrote, according to the message obtained by the New York Times [4]. "I've been thinking hard about how to turn the ship on it," he wrote, in Gizmodo's account of the same report [5]. Then he gave the number: "We've donated $25m so far, and have no plans to donate more at this time." [6]
By Brockman's own account, the reversal was for "people here," meaning his staff [4]. Some employees had criticised the gift as an attempt by leadership to block AI regulation, the Wall Street Journal reported [10]. The money was already late when he wrote [24]. He never announced the change publicly [3]. A representative for the couple declined to comment to the Times, and so did Leading the Future [9].
Outside anger is in the record too. Gizmodo describes AI and data centers as a fault line for candidates in both parties, with some Republicans breaking from Trump to call for stricter guardrails [19]. More than 100 Democratic campaign staffers signed an open letter urging party leaders to refuse the PAC's donations [20]. Politico called the group "the Death Star" of AI politics [21]. The Guardrails Alliance, the rival PAC, says pressure from inside and outside OpenAI produced the reversal [26]. Brockman himself said in a May interview that he did not agree with all of the group's spending decisions, according to the Journal [11].
Leading the Future campaigned against candidates who favored stricter AI rules and data center moratoriums, and it campaigned successfully against New York assemblymember Alex Bores [14]. OpenAI's public position, posted ten days before the Slack message, was "We want to be explicit: No outside political group speaks for OpenAI or represents our company's views" [7]. It had also said Brockman's involvement was "in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the company" [8]. None of the reporting describes a change in his other political ties. He and his wife gave $25 million to Trump's super PAC last year [16], and on Tuesday he signed Trump's AI accord for OpenAI [23].
What the evidence shows is one executive stopping one payment after his own staff objected. The rest of the money is still moving. Groups aligned with OpenAI and Anthropic have spent $55.7 million on 2026 congressional races, according to a Times analysis [17]. Of 95 ads the paper reviewed from four of those super PACs, none mentioned data centres and seven mentioned AI or an AI company [18]. That is about 7 percent [25].
A leadership team weighing political money near a product the public dislikes can ask two questions. The first is whether the executive would defend the gift to staff in writing. The second is whether the campaign's ads would name the product. Brockman's pledge failed the first, since his written message to staff was the decision to stop [6]. The ads in the Times review fail the second [18]. At OpenAI, the explanation reached the public through a Slack message the Times obtained [3].
What to watch
- Leading the Future's next donor disclosures, to see whether another backer replaces the $25 million the Brockmans withheld.
- Whether the American Infrastructure Alliance names its other backers and its first state campaigns when it starts work next year.
- Whether the Guardrails Alliance's employee-funded budget grows past $200,000 now that Brockman's reversal is public.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence72
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+18
- Incentives66
- Confidence70
Perspective Coverage
4 publishers- Builder
- Builder 15%
- Operator
- Operator 51%
- Investor
- Investor 34%
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Leading the Future had said Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, would give $50m in total, with $25m in 2025 and $25m this year.
- [2]
Brockman has already donated the first $25 million to Leading the Future but will not donate the rest, the New York Times reported.
- [3]
Brockman never announced the change publicly. In June, he told OpenAI staff in a Slack message, obtained by the Times, that he had no plans to give more.
- [4]
"I also want to say that I feel terrible about the fact that LTF keeps reflecting on the company and become so much of a distraction for people here,"
- [5]
"I've been thinking hard about how to turn the ship on it."
- [6]
"We've donated $25m so far, and have no plans to donate more at this time."
- [7]
Ten days before Brockman's Slack message, OpenAI published a blog post stating: "We want to be explicit: No outside political group speaks for OpenAI or represents our company's views"
- [8]
In June, OpenAI released a statement saying Brockman's engagement with Leading the Future had solely "been in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the company."
- [9]
A representative for the Brockmans declined to comment to the Times. So did Leading the Future.
- [10]
OpenAI employees criticised Brockman's donation as an attempt by the company's leadership to block AI regulation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- [11]
In a May interview, Brockman said he did not agree with all of Leading the Future's spending decisions, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- [12]
In July, a group of OpenAI employees said they would pool more than $200,000 for the Guardrails Alliance, a rival super PAC aiming to counterweight Leading the Future.
- [13]
Leading the Future took $50m from Andreessen Horowitz, and its groups had about $43m on hand at the end of June, the Times reported.
- [14]
Leading the Future has campaigned against candidates whose platforms include stricter AI regulation and data center moratoriums, and successfully campaigned against New York State assemblymember Alex Bores.
- [15]
The super PAC told the Times in February that the second donation would come in the first quarter of 2026. It did not come in the first or second quarter.
- [16]
Brockman and his wife gave $25m to President Donald Trump's super PAC last year.
- [17]
Groups aligned with OpenAI and Anthropic have spent $55.7m on the 2026 congressional races, according to a New York Times analysis.
- [18]
The Times reviewed 95 ads from four AI-aligned super PACs. None mentioned data centres, and only seven mentioned AI or an AI company.
- [19]
The public has soured on AI and data centers to the point that the topics are a fault line for candidates from both parties, with some Republican candidates breaking from Trump to call for stricter AI guardrails.
- [20]
Last month, a group of 100-something Democratic campaign staffers wrote an open letter urging party leaders to reject campaign donations from Leading the Future.
- [21]
A Politico story referred to Leading the Future as "the Death Star" of the AI political universe.
- [22]
OpenAI is among organizations backing the American Infrastructure Alliance, a new group that will partner with local politicians to create data center standards and ward off moratorium plans, beginning its work next year after the 2026 midterms, in states including Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.
- [23]
On Tuesday, Brockman attended the White House lunch where tech leaders signed Trump's AI accord, and signed it for OpenAI.
- [24]
The second $25 million payment had already missed its first-quarter 2026 due date when Brockman sent his June Slack message.
- [25]
About 7 percent of the 95 AI-aligned super PAC ads the Times reviewed mentioned AI or an AI company.
- [26]
The Guardrails Alliance said pressure from inside and outside OpenAI had led to Brockman's reversal.
Sources
4 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- gizmodo.comOpenAI President Reportedly Pulls Support From Controversial AI Super PAC
1 article · October 1, 2026
- implicator.aiBrockman Dropped $25M PAC Pledge After OpenAI Slack Pushback
1 article · October 2, 2026
- semafor.comHow employees forced OpenAI’s president to back down
1 article · October 2, 2026
- thenextweb.comOpenAI’s Greg Brockman drops his second $25m gift to an AI super PAC
1 article · October 1, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- AI industry political spending
- Data Center Moratoriums and Restrictions
- US 2026 midterm elections
- AI Regulation
Entities
- OpenAI
- American Infrastructure Alliance
- Jason Kwon
- The New York Times
- Greg Brockman
- Leading the Future
- Andreessen Horowitz
- Guardrails Alliance
- Anthropic
- Build American AI
- Chris Lehane