Anthropic outspends OpenAI in biggest-ever lobbying quarter
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Both Anthropic and OpenAI posted their biggest-ever lobbying spends in the first quarter of 2026, with Anthropic at $1.6 million and OpenAI at $1 million, per federal lobbying disclosures.
Why it matters: The two biggest frontier AI model companies hardly spent time in Washington just years ago. Now, they're joining the ranks of more seasoned tech companies shelling out millions a quarter on lobbying.
Driving the news: Both companies still don't spend nearly as much as their Big Tech counterparts, but their numbers have inched up quarter by quarter, recently breaking the million-dollar-mark.
- Meta topped Big Tech lobbying spending once again in the first quarter of 2026, spending $7.1 million, with Amazon and Google trailing behind at $4.4 million and $2.9 million, respectively.
Stunning stat: Anthropic spent $1.6 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year, compared to just $360,000 in the first quarter of 2025. That's a 344% year-over-year increase for the quarter.
- OpenAI spent $1 million compared to $560,000 in the first quarter of 2025 — a 78.6% year-over-year increase for the quarter.
What's inside: Anthropic had a rough first quarter of 2026, battling with the Pentagon over red lines and acceptable uses for its technology in classified settings as Trump administration officials accused the company of being "woke."
- As those fights continue in court, the company is flooding the zone in Washington on Capitol Hill and keeping agencies in the loop on their latest models.
- Most notably, the topics of AI procurement, Defense Department procurement, supply chain risk and "acceptable use policy," the heart of Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, are listed as topics the company spoke to lawmakers about in Q1 2026.
- Also listed: AI and national security, export controls, legislation, energy infrastructure, supply chain and permitting.
OpenAI, in its most expensive quarter yet, talked to lawmakers about AI and copyright, cybersecurity, cloud computing and infrastructure, per its filing.
- Meta, per its filing, focused on data privacy, security, encryption and cross-border data flows along with AI issues.
- Both Meta and Google lobbied on kids' online safety bills, copyright, chips and AI workforce training.
- Microsoft homed in on AI in education, tax, digital trade, kids' online safety, software patents, cloud and copyright.
Both AMD and Nvidia lobbied on export control rule changes and kept spending steady from last year's levels.
What we're watching: Expect AI-specific companies and interests to keep upping their spending in Washington, even as more traditional Big Tech companies remain the biggest overall spenders with massive lobbying portfolios.
- For example, the Data Center Coalition posted its biggest-ever lobbying quarter, spending $420,000 compared to Q1 2025's $123,000 as data center buildouts become a political hot topic.
