OpenAIโs co-founder and longtime president, Greg Brockman, didnโt just make a run-of-the-mill donation to the main pro-Trump super PAC โ together, he and his wife Annaโs September 2025 donations equaled the largest of them all, totaling $25 million to โMAGA Inc.,โ per a recent filing. The Brockmansโ donations made up nearly one-fourth of the six-month fundraising cycle.
Itโs the latest in a string of examples of tech executives cozying up to President Trumpโs administration, happening as the administration pushes to aggressively back the AI industry and defang state-level regulations that companies like OpenAI have largely opposed. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brockmanโs multimillion-dollar donation isnโt the only example of him spending big, under his own name, on lobbying efforts that have their sights set on dismantling potential AI industry regulation. The pro-AI super PAC โLeading the Future,โ of which Brockman is a significant backer, has bought ads targeting New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores โ a cosponsor of New Yorkโs RAISE Act, which was watered down at the last minute after coordinated lobbying efforts.
Though news of the Brockmansโ donations first broke earlier this month, itโs seen a resurgence in online discussion after the recent death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, where federal officers have fatally shot two people during an anti-immigrant crackdown. Tech workers from across the industry, including multiple employees at OpenAI, have signed a letter calling for their CEOs to cancel all contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and publicly condemn the departmentโs actions. โWhen Trump threatened to send the national guard to San Francisco in October, tech industry leaders called the White House,โ the petitionโs website states. โIt worked: Trump backed down. Today weโre calling on our CEOs to pick up the phone again.โ
However, since Trumpโs inauguration, tech leader after tech leader has donated to his inauguration fund, flocked to Mar-a-Lago to meet with him, or attended White House dinners by his side. In return, theyโve gotten an administration eager to roll back consumer protections and tech regulation. Trumpโs AI Action Plan resurrected a failed Republican attempt to bar states from passing AI regulations, to tech leadersโ delight. The new provision states that โAI is far too important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stageโ and that the government โshould not allow AI-related Federal funding to be directed toward states with burdensome AI regulations that waste these funds,โ though it should also โnot interfere with statesโ rights to pass prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation.โ Targets of the moratorium include SB 53, the landmark AI transparency bill California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September despite many tech companies lobbying against it, including OpenAI.
In 2019, Brockman co-wrote a blog post about how hard it is to โchange powerful systems โฆ once theyโve been deployed,โ and that itโs โimportant to address AGIโs safety and policy risks before it is created.โ Six years later, his posts have shifted in tone, highlighting the importance of โapproach[ing] emerging technology with a growth-focused mindset.โ In a New Yearโs Eve post on X, Brockman wrote that โthis year, my wife Anna and I started getting involved politically, including through political contributions, reflecting support for policies that advance American innovation and constructive dialogue between government and the technology sector.โ He added that โitโs been great to see the presidentโs and his administrationโs willingness to engage directly with the AI community.โ
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