Towards the end of last year, New York Assembly politician Alex Bores found himself on the receiving end of a campaign from a pro-AI super PAC aimed at derailing his congressional ambitions. The organization, Leading the Future, boasts over $100 million from supporters such as Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, AI search firm Perplexity, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.

Bores’ retort was straightforward: bring it on. He now possesses the resources to back that assertion.

Public First Action, a PAC benefiting from a $20 million contribution from Anthropic, is allocating $450,000 to elevate Bores in the contest for New York’s 12th congressional district, as reported by Bloomberg. Similar to its opponent, the committee supports AI but promotes a distinct vision focused on transparency, safety regulations, and public oversight.

In contrast, the industry-supported PAC, Leading the Future, has already invested $1.1 million into advertisements targeting Bores, mainly due to his sponsorship of New York’s RAISE Act, which mandates that large AI developers reveal safety measures and report significant misuse of their technologies.