Dario Amodei’s Anthropic is building a dedicated political engagement operation ahead of the 2028 US presidential election, highlighting how crucial government relationships and AI policy debates have become for the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry. The role will be responsible for building and managing Anthropic’s presidential engagement programme for the 2028 election cycle, educating candidates and their advisers about AI policy, preparing company executives for discussions with campaigns and planning for party conventions and presidential transitions.
As reported by Fortune, Anthropic is creating a “presidential engagement” programme that will work directly with Republican and Democratic presidential candidates on AI-related issues, help shape the company’s political strategy and oversee its political funding activities. “Most companies hire people with Democratic and Republican backgrounds for a reason—the campaigns trust people who come from their party and understand how they work,” said the company. The company is currently hiring a Political Programs Lead to spearhead the initiative.
“We want every serious candidate and elected official, in both parties, to understand the technology and the case for governing it well.”
The program is taking shape before the November midterms and an impending IPO that could value Anthropic at up to $2 trillion. Last week, Amodei attended a White House event with other AI CEOs and signed an accord committing to self-regulation.
Fortune said it underscores how central government policy, and White House support in particular, have become to the AI industry. In March, the Department of Defense designated the company a “supply chain risk” after a clash over how the military could use its technology. But some experts said a formal, dedicated presidential program is different. Freed, president of the nonpartisan Center for Political Accountability, said companies usually deal with campaigns through government affairs staff. “My reading is this is an AI company effort aimed at shaping or staving off government regulation or oversight,” he said. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said the job search is a reminder that frontier AI companies are building political operations alongside their products. Companies have a right to take part in democracy and educate policymakers, he said, but “education and influence are not the same thing. He urged Anthropic to share more about the program and said AI rules should be set by accountable elected representatives, not “by whichever company has the best-resourced political program. ” The job description calls Anthropic “equal parts research lab, policy think tank, and technology company” and stresses that its political participation is bipartisan. The role also includes running “the day-to-day of Anthropic’s political giving” and helping employees who choose to take part in politics do so “in an informed way.”
Anthropic’s relationship with the Trump administration has been rocky. CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing AI development to shore up safeguards and has advocated government regulation, a view President Trump rejects, citing the race with China. Lobbying by tech companies is standard, and OpenAI is hiring a U.S. Congressional Lead to advance its legislative priorities. Bruce F. He had not seen such formalized engagement through a presidential election engagement committee. Sen.