Nearly a dozen Democratic congressional candidates are banding together to call on campaigns to refuse money from a major pro-artificial intelligence super PAC ahead of the November midterms.

The new pledge targets Leading the Future, a bipartisan organization that has raised at least $140 million since it launched last year. Its financial supporters include the likes of OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Trump-aligned Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and the creators of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The initiative, first reported by MS NOW, comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of AI’s risks to society and national security after pleas from an Anthropic whistleblower who went public with safety concerns.

Signatories to the effort, organized by an anti-OpenAI group called QuitGPT, argue that the political action committee is lobbying to prevent comprehensive AI legislation from passing Congress. The super PAC says it intends to “reshape the political environment around innovation policy” by supporting politicians from both parties who align with their approach and opposing those who do not.

In response to a request for comment, Josh Vlasto, a former Chuck Schumer staffer who helps lead the super PAC, referred to previous statements by the organization. “We will continue supporting policymakers and candidates who move beyond ideological extremes to advance responsible innovation, protect the public, and strengthen American leadership,” one X post reads.

Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, who chairs the Progressive Caucus, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Rep. Pat Ryan and House candidate Brad Lander, both of New York, former Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello, and California House candidate Angela Gonzales-Torres are among 10 Democratic hopefuls committing to the vow.

“In the fight between AI billionaires and the people they’re screwing over, Democrats need to stand clearly on the side of the people,” Casar said in a statement. “We must reject support from the billionaires trying to stop all AI regulation.”

There is a long list of more than 50 left-leaning organizations that also support the campaign to disavow the super PAC, including the Sunrise Movement, the Generation Z advocacy group Voters of Tomorrow, the liberal activist group Indivisible and End Citizens United, which backs campaign finance reform.

In a sign of friction over the Democratic Party’s path forward, Morris Katz, an adviser to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other prominent Democrats, took aim at former Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday for praising an effort by the venture capital fund SV Angel to strengthen ties between Democrats and AI companies as “encouraging.” Tech investor Ron Conway of SV Angel was one of Leading the Future’s earliest donors.

“The problem is the outsized influence of industry. Take them on. Don’t serve as an accomplice,” Katz wrote on X. “A total misread.”

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From MS Now.