OpenAI and Anthropic build out Washington lobbying machines to shape AI legislation

Silicon Valley’s two most prominent AI companies are no longer content to let Washington figure out AI policy on its own. OpenAI and Anthropic have both established dedicated lobbying operations in the nation’s capital, complete with physical offices, growing headcounts, and rapidly escalating budgets designed to ensure they have a seat at every table where AI rules get written. Their combined federal lobbying expenditures hit $3.17 million in the second quarter of 2026, a 23% increase over the prior quarter. Anthropic alone spent $1.97 million during that stretch, outpacing even Nvidia’s lobbying outlay for the same period. Two offices, two very different playbooks Anthropic moved first, opening its Washington office in April 2026. OpenAI followed a month later in May, christening its space “The Workshop.” OpenAI is championing a framework it calls “reverse federalism.” The idea is to encourage consistent state-level AI legislation that would effectively create unified national standards through bottom-up convergence rather than top-down federal mandates. The pitch to lawmakers: developers shouldn’t have to navigate 50 different compliance regimes to ship a product. Anthropic has ...