OpenAI Secretly Lobbying For Gov Bailout

TL;DR

OpenAI ran a secret $100M dark money propaganda campaign to manufacture public support for a government loan guarantee bailout, framing it as a China national security issue.

Key Points

• 1.OpenAI's CFO publicly requested a government loan guarantee in November 2024, then denied it. Sarah Frier asked the government to backstop hundreds of billions in data center loans; Altman tweeted one day later claiming OpenAI wants no such guarantees.
• 2.OpenAI has long used China scaremongering to justify taxpayer subsidies. A 2024 infrastructure blueprint invoked Putin, China's 2030 AI goal, and historical projects like the Manhattan Project and Tennessee Valley Authority to frame subsidies as national security imperatives.
• 3.Greg Brockman co-founded two PACs — one transparent, one operating in the shadows. 'Leading the Future' raised over $100M openly from Brockman and Andreessen Horowitz; 'Build American AI' runs dark money campaigns paying influencers up to $5,000 per TikTok or Instagram post.
• 4.The dark money campaign was exposed when a journalist refused a paid influencer offer. Wired writer and YouTuber Taylor Loren was offered thousands to post pro-AI, anti-China TikTok content with scripted talking points, and instead published an exposé.
• 5.The $100M influence campaign is designed to pave the way for a second bailout attempt. Brockman also donated $25M to a pro-Trump PAC; the goal is to shift public opinion enough that government loan guarantees worth potentially hundreds of billions become politically viable.