Leading the Future (LTF) is an American super PAC network focused on lobbying for policies friendly to the artificial intelligence industry. It launched in 2025 and received over $140 million from industry stakeholders including Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. It operates the American Mission PAC in Republican primaries, the Think Big PAC in Democratic primaries, and the offshoot Build American AI.
History
Founding Leading the Future launched in August 2025 and received over $140 million from industry stakeholders including Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. The launch was preceded by talks between Collin McCune, head of government affairs at Andreessen Horowitz, and Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer at OpenAI. Lehane had also advised Brockman on his political spending, which Brockman described as being in service of OpenAI's mission.
Leading the Future is affiliated with the nonprofit Build American AI, which Axios describes as a dark money advocacy "offshoot" operating alongside the super PAC. Build American AI is led by Nathan Leamer. NBC News states that Leading The Future's efforts are modeled after the pro-cryptocurrency group Fairshake, which Chris Lehane had previously helped launch. Leading the Future is led by Zac Moffatt and Josh Vlasto, the latter of whom previously served as an advisor to Fairshake. In response to the creation of Leading the Future, former members of Congress Brad Carson and Chris Stewart co-founded the super PAC network Public First, aiming to counter the group's influence.
2026 elections In April 2026, an investigation by Model Republic linked Leading the Future to The Wire By Acutus, an automated news website that allegedly used AI agents posing as human journalists to solicit interviews. The site's content was found to closely mirror the PAC's deregulatory policy goals while targeting researchers and advocates skeptical of rapid AI development. In May 2026, Wired revealed that Build American AI used a "dark money" campaign to pay TikTok and Instagram influencers $5,000 per video to promote scripted narratives framing Chinese AI as a "national security threat." According to internal documents and staff at the marketing agency managing the project, the campaign's explicit goal was to "subtly shift public debate" toward the deregulation of AI industries while intentionally avoiding technical discussions regarding AI quality or safety.
During the 2026 primary season, Leading the Future endorsed several candidates in both Democratic and Republican races. It spent $1.1 million in support of Houston Gaines and Jim Kingston, $750,000 in support of Andy Barr, $500,000 in support of Jessica Steinmann, $750,000 in support of Chris Gober, $500,000 in support of Laurie Buckhout, $8 million against Alex Bores, and $700,000 in support of Dan Koh. It also supported the campaigns of Mike Rounds, Emilia Sykes, Jesse Jackson Jr., Melissa Bean, Val Hoyle, Rob Menendez, Richie Torres, Josh Gottheimer, Sam Liccardo, Yvette Clarke, Suhas Subramanyam, and Jimmy Gomez.
Funding During its launch in August 2025, LTF received over $140 million from industry stakeholders including Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.
In May 2026, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that super PACs associated with Leading the Future evaded federal transparency requirements by funneling payments through shell companies. Contributions to Leading the Future in 2026 include $50,000,000 from Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen and $25,000,000 from Greg & Anna Brockman.
See also
Regulation of artificial intelligence in the United States
References
External links
Build American AI