The amount spent on lobbying for artificial intelligence (AI) issues at the U.S. federal level saw a significant surge in 2024, with 648 companies spending on AI lobbying compared to 458 in 2023, representing a 141% year-over-year increase. According to data compiled by OpenSecrets, this increase in lobbying efforts is largely attributed to the regulatory uncertainty surrounding AI development and deployment.

Several major companies, including Microsoft, have been actively supporting legislation aimed at promoting AI development in the U.S. For instance, Microsoft backed the CREATE AI Act, which would support the benchmarking of AI systems developed in the country. OpenAI, on the other hand, threw its weight behind the Advancement and Reliability Act, which would establish a dedicated government center for AI research.

Most AI labs, companies dedicated almost exclusively to commercializing various kinds of AI tech, spent more on backing legislative agenda items in 2024 than in 2023. OpenAI, for example, upped its lobbying expenditures to $1.76 million last year from $260,000 in 2023. Anthropic, OpenAI's close rival, more than doubled its spend from $280,000 in 2023 to $720,000 last year, while enterprise-focused startup Cohere boosted its spending to $230,000 in 2024 from just $70,000 two years ago.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic made strategic hires over the last year to coordinate their policymaker outreach. Anthropic brought on its first in-house lobbyist, Department of Justice alum Rachel Appleton, and OpenAI hired political veteran Chris Lehane as its new VP of policy. These hires demonstrate the companies' commitment to shaping AI policy and regulation in the U.S.

The combined lobbying efforts of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere totaled $2.71 million in 2024, a significant increase from the $610,000 spent in 2023. While this amount is still a tiny fraction of the $61.5 million spent by the larger tech industry on lobbying in the same timeframe, it highlights the growing importance of AI in the tech sector.

Last year was a tumultuous one in domestic AI policymaking, with Congressional lawmakers considering over 90 AI-related pieces of legislation in the first half alone, according to the Brennan Center. At the state level, over 700 laws were proposed, with some states making significant progress in enacting AI regulation. Tennessee became the first state to protect voice artists from unauthorized AI cloning, while Colorado adopted a tiered, risk-based approach to AI policy. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed dozens of AI-related safety bills, including some that require AI companies to disclose details about their training.

Despite these efforts, no state officials were successful in enacting AI regulation as comprehensive as international frameworks like the EU's AI Act. The federal government's progress on AI legislation remains uncertain, with President Donald Trump signaling his intention to largely deregulate the industry. Trump revoked an executive order by former President Joe Biden that sought to reduce risks AI might pose to consumers, workers, and national security, and recently signed an EO instructing federal agencies to suspend certain Biden-era AI policies and programs.

In response to the regulatory uncertainty, Anthropic has called for "targeted" federal AI regulation within the next 18 months, warning that the window for "proactive risk prevention is closing fast." OpenAI, in a recent policy document, urged the U.S. government to take more substantive action on AI and infrastructure to support the technology's development. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, it remains to be seen whether the federal government can make more progress on AI legislation this year versus last, or even whether there's a strong appetite for codification.