{"slug": "the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first-ai-super-pac", "title": "The spectacular failure of the first AI Super PAC", "summary": "The first AI-focused super PAC, Leading the Future, has failed spectacularly after less than a year, unable to replicate the success of crypto PAC Fairshake. Funded by OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Andreessen Horowitz, the PAC aimed to support pro-AI candidates but underestimated the high salience of AI as a public issue. Unlike crypto, which voters largely ignored, AI has become intensely polarizing, undermining the PAC's strategy.", "body_md": "# The spectacular failure of the first AI Super PAC\n\n### The crypto playbook doesn't work for AI\n\nLast August, a press release [announced the formation of a new $100 million super PAC](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ai-industry-launches-leading-the-future-to-drive-us-ai-leadership-economic-growth-national-security-and-innovation-302537548.html), Leading the Future.\n\nThe group was funded by OpenAI President Greg Brockman and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and, according to its press release, represented “a coalition of leading AI companies and innovators” aiming to “support candidates aligned with the pro-AI agenda and ensure America leads the world in AI innovation and oppose those that do not.”[1](#footnote-1)\n\nLeading the Future was [modeled on Fairshake](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/26/silicon-valley-ai-super-pac/), an extremely successful cryptocurrency PAC that Andreessen Horowitz had invested in during the previous election cycle. Fairshake’s theory of political pressure was simple: If you were against cryptocurrency, they would run primary and general election ads against you or for your opponents.\n\nAnd it worked. Fairshake [spent $40 million](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/07/sherrod-brown-ohio-comeback-crypto-00909209#:~:text=Fairshake%2Daffiliated%20PACs%20later%20went%20on%20to%20plow%20more%20than%20%2440%20million%20into%20an%20effort%20to%20defeat%20Brown%20in%202024) to defeat former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s 2024 reelection bid, another [$10 million in a successful effort](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/01/crypto-super-pac-katie-porter-attack-ads) to defeat Senate candidate Katie Porter, and [$2 million against](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/26/crypto-pac-house-senate-elections.html#:~:text=Yet%20crypto%E2%80%99s%20Fairshake%20PAC%20also%20got%20into%20the%20race%20and%20spent%20%242%20million%20to%20air%20an%20ad%20critical%20of%20Bowman.) former Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York. In all three of those contests, Fairshake got its way and probably made a lot of other candidates extremely hesitant to put forward anti-crypto regulation as a result.\n\nThe plan with LTF was to repeat the successful experiment, this time to go after candidates bent on regulating AI. But it’s taken less than a year for that plan to crash and burn spectacularly.\n\nAI isn’t crypto. Fairshake’s playbook worked because crypto is a low-salience issue where most voters aren’t paying attention.\n\nAI is completely different: Americans are beginning to care *intensely* and likely will care more and more as the [technology spreads through various sectors](https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/americans-want-artisanal-code) of the economy. LTF was a bet against AI’s own importance, placed by many of the people building the technology. And it’s a bet they’re losing.\n\n## Keep reading with a 7-day free trial\n\nSubscribe to The Argument to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first-ai-super-pac", "canonical_source": "https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first", "published_at": "2026-06-22 10:03:29+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-22 10:08:52.748183+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-ethics", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "Greg Brockman", "Andreessen Horowitz", "Leading the Future", "Fairshake", "Sherrod Brown", "Katie Porter", "Jamaal Bowman"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first-ai-super-pac", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first-ai-super-pac.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first-ai-super-pac.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-spectacular-failure-of-the-first-ai-super-pac.jsonld"}}