The three companies racing to build the future spent the third quarter of 2026 buying influence over how that future gets regulated — and each one set a new record for lobbying spending doing it. Nvidia, Anthropic and OpenAI poured a combined $7.5 million into federal lobbying between July and September, according to an analysis of new disclosure filings by POGO Investigates, with each company posting its highest quarterly total ever.
That 7.5 million dollars is 23% higher than what the trio spent the previous quarter, and roughly 61% more than the same period in 2025. The Verge’s own reading of the filings landed a little lower, at nearly $6 million, but either way the direction is unmistakable: the AI industry has gone from policy newcomer to Washington fixture in about two years.
The lobbying spending, company by company
Nvidia led the pack at $2.2 million. It was the first quarter the chipmaker had ever crossed $2 million, a notable jump for a company that spent just $640,000 on lobbying across all of 2024. According to POGO’s figures, Nvidia’s total went from $6 million in 2025 to $6.04 million through just the first three quarters of this year — a 53.5% jump between Q2 and Q3 alone.
Anthropic spent $2.1 million, roughly double the highest quarterly total it reported in all of 2025. That’s a sharp change in posture for a company that built its public identity around AI safety and caution. Its lobbyists pressed Congress and the White House on child safety rules, provisions of the AI Overwatch Act that would let lawmakers block high-tech chip exports to countries including China, Russia and Iran, the Kids Online Safety Act, and the Ratepayer Protection Act, a proposal that would force data-center developers to cover the energy costs their facilities create. Anthropic also lobbied on President Trump’s executive order renaming artificial intelligence “Super Intelligence,” a detail that says plenty about how seriously Washington’s word choices are taken in San Francisco.
OpenAI reported $1.5 million. The company didn’t break $500,000 in a single quarter until late 2024 and didn’t clear $1 million until this year, so the trend line is steep. Its disclosure lists contacts with Congress, the White House, the Small Business Administration and the Commerce and State Departments, covering cybersecurity evaluations for frontier models, frameworks for AI safety oversight, antitrust protections for companies sharing information, and copyright.
Apple belongs in this conversation too. The company spent $3.1 million in the quarter, its first reported total above $3 million, and engaged on competition, tariffs, intellectual property, child safety and domestic semiconductor manufacturing — including bills that would require app stores to verify users’ ages.
What the money is chasing
Nobody spends $7.5 million a quarter on Washington for fun. The filings describe a legislative target list that reads like a map of the industry’s pressure points: export controls, competition policy, quantum computing, 6G networks and what Nvidia’s disclosure called “responsible AI design.” Anthropic specifically backed the Collaboration on Adversarial Threats and Security Risks Act, which would let AI labs share threat data without antitrust exposure, according to Semafor’s analysis of the filings.
The sheer volume of legislation explains the urgency. At least 99 bills relating to AI have been introduced in the current Congress, per a tally by the nonprofit American Action Forum cited by POGO, with about half aimed at curbing harms. That gives the industry dozens of places to press its case — and regulators aren’t just listening. The Federal Trade Commission has issued civil subpoenas to OpenAI and Anthropic seeking information on their privacy policies and security incidents.
Meanwhile, the lobbying blitz arrived weeks after a White House show of cooperation. On September 29, the chief executives of OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia were among the signatories to an accord calling for internal controls, board oversight and external auditors in AI development. Trump called the accord “morally binding.” The accord’s own text noted the voluntary steps might eventually be written into law. That is presumably exactly what the $7.5 million is meant to shape.
Why this matters
Two years ago, none of these companies was a meaningful lobbying force. Microsoft has spent at least $2 million every quarter since 2021 and Google routinely tops $3 million — these are companies with permanent Washington operations. Anthropic and OpenAI have built theirs from scratch, fast. Issue One’s analysis of the same filings found that six of the biggest tech and AI companies — Alphabet, Anthropic, Meta, X Corp, Snap, Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI — paid for at least 380 lobbyists in the third quarter. That’s roughly one lobbyist for every 1.5 members of Congress, with Alphabet alone retaining 94.
There’s an obvious tension here, and it’s worth naming. Anthropic’s pitch to the public has centered on AI safety; one draft bill leaked to Politico showed the company pushing language that would set an extraordinarily high bar for blocking dangerous models. These companies keep signing voluntary safety commitments with one hand while spending millions to make sure the binding rules look a certain way with the other. That doesn’t make the commitments worthless. It does mean the filings deserve as much attention as the press releases.
For reference, Meta still led Big Tech’s Washington spending for the quarter at $5.9 million, per Semafor’s analysis. But the gap between the old guard and the AI newcomers is closing faster than anyone expected, and Congress hasn’t finished writing the rules yet.
Frequently asked questions
How much did AI companies spend on lobbying in Q3 2026? OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia spent a combined $7.5 million on federal lobbying in Q3 2026, according to POGO’s analysis of disclosure filings, up 23% from Q2 and about 61% from a year earlier. The Verge’s own tally put the total at nearly $6 million.
Which AI company spent the most on lobbying? Nvidia spent the most at $2.2 million, its first quarter ever above $2 million. Anthropic spent $2.1 million, roughly double its highest quarterly total from 2025, and OpenAI spent $1.5 million, a record for each company.
What AI laws are the companies lobbying about? The disclosures cover chip export controls like the AI Overwatch Act, child safety bills, cybersecurity evaluations, AI safety oversight frameworks, data-center energy costs, copyright and antitrust protections for sharing threat information.
Why is AI lobbying spending rising? At least 99 AI-related bills are pending in the current Congress, and the FTC has issued civil subpoenas to OpenAI and Anthropic, so the rules governing AI safety, chip exports and privacy are being written right now.
Sources: The Verge, POGO Investigates, AI Affairs, Semafor, American Action Forum