Sam Altman says AI money in US politics is clearly not working

During the first episode of Decoded, Politico’s podcast, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman says the money AI companies are pouring into US politics has failed to improve how people see the technology.

“Something’s clearly not working,” he said on the first episode of Politico’s Decoded podcast.

People often love using AI tools, Altman said, but they are anxious about jobs and about power being concentrated in a few hands.

In his view, spending on politics will not ease those fears, and much of the industry is being tone-deaf about them.

Brendan Bordelon, the Politico journalist, asked about OpenAI president Greg Brockman, who gave $25M to the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future and, according to recent reports, has dropped a second $ 25 M donation.

Sam Altman said he had not seen the report and did not want to respond to it.

He said he has backed individual candidates in the past but no longer gives to any. AI is now so central, he explained, and OpenAI does business with the government.

Then he was asked whether the industry should agree to slow its political spending before the 2028 election.

Altman said he would love to see much less money in politics, but doubted that he or the industry had the power to disarm on its own.

Telling some people they can give and others they cannot would not work either, he said. Still, he would support a way to reduce political money overall.

Altman also praised California governor Gavin Newsom, whom Politico has reported he texted about a children’s chatbot safety bill.

He called Newsom thoughtful at bringing different groups together, and said he could help repair ties between Democrats and Silicon Valley.

Beyond that, Altman said he is not spending much time with likely presidential candidates yet, and will work with whoever becomes the next US president. The same interview also covered his split with Anthropic on AI rules.