Exclusive: Inside Anthropic's D.C. blitz
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Anthropic's head of policy Jack Clark tells Axios that the company is planning a major D.C. expansion to ensure they're preparing lawmakers for the ways they see AI reshaping American industries within the next year.
Why it matters: AI is moving too fast for policymakers to fully keep up with. What Anthropic sees as its challenge: Telling Washington it's about to get exponentially crazier.
- "That's the hardest concept to communicate, because it is almost without precedent," Clark said.
- Clark expects the impact of AI will be a huge issue in the 2028 presidential election and the 2026 midterms.
- "There will be lots of questions about how AI is actually changing the labor market. The lesson over and over again has been AI arrives, it becomes such a big deal, but it changes all of the industries it touches," Clark said.
Driving the news: Anthropic plans to double its employee count in D.C., opening an official office in 2026 after outgrowing their coworking space. Its employees will focus on product, policy, and trust and safety.
- The company feels more strongly than ever how important it is to be close to policymakers to discuss AI's role in society, Clark said.
- Anthropic is also kicking off a week of events in D.C. starting Monday.
What they're saying: "What we're trying to tell people next week is, yes, the technology has generated $5 billion in annual recurring revenue, and is doing all of these crazy deployments, and it's starting to affect national security and government and businesses," Clark said.
- "That is small potatoes compared to where it'll be in a year."
Zoom in: Clark and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will visit House and Senate members, including leadership and heads of committees, next week.
- "We're going to say to policymakers, you should expect that AI products are going to be deployed at a far larger scale than you see today, and they are going to be affecting your constituents lives in many more ways than today."
What we're watching: Clark said Anthropic wants to see Congress pass federal transparency requirements for AI companies mandating the public disclosure of safety and risk assessment practices.
- Recently, the company endorsed SB 53, a California bill that would mandate transparency requirements.
- "Of course, we prefer it to be federal, but under a short timeline world, you've got to try some shots that are available to you," Clark said.
