Anthropic is setting up a 'presidential engagement' program ahead of the 2028 elections.
The effort will build an in-house team that works directly with U.S. presidential candidates from both parties on AI issues, helps Anthropic's leadership set political strategy, and runs the company's political funding program.
Anthropic is hiring a Political Programs lead to build and run the program for the 2028 cycle. The role will 'map the prospective fields in both parties,' offer AI policy education to candidates and their advisers 'on equal terms,' prepare Anthropic's executives for those conversations, and plan for the platform, convention, and transition periods.
The job description says, 'Decisions made over the next two years will shape the future enormously.' It adds, 'We want every serious candidate and elected official, in both parties, to understand the technology and the case for governing it well.'
The timing matters. The effort is taking shape before the November midterm elections and an impending initial public offering that could value Anthropic at as much as $2 trillion.
That backdrop underscores how government policy, and White House backing in particular, have become critical to the AI industry. Tech companies lobbying Washington is established practice. OpenAI is also hiring a U.S. Congressional Lead to advance its legislative priorities.
Still, some experts view Anthropic's plan as unusual. Bruce F. Freed, president of the non-partisan Center for Political Accountability, said companies usually maintain campaign relationships through government affairs staff. But, he said, 'I’ve not seen such as formalized engagement through a presidential election engagement committee.' His reading is that it is 'an AI company effort aimed at shaping or staving off government regulation or oversight.'
Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company's relationship with the Trump administration has been rocky. In March, the Department of Defense designated Anthropic as a 'supply chain risk' after the company clashed with the Pentagon over how its technology could be used by the military.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic's CEO and cofounder, has called for slowing the pace of AI development to shore up safeguards. He has also been a vocal advocate for government regulation of AI. President Trump has rejected regulation that could cause the U.S. to fall behind China in the AI race.
Last week, Amodei attended a White House event with several other AI industry CEOs and signed an accord committing to self-regulation.
Katie Harbath, founder and CEO of Anchor Change, said the program did not strike her as unusual. But Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said Anthropic's search for a Political Programs lead is 'a reminder that the companies building frontier AI models are also building political operations alongside their products.' He added that 'education and influence are not the same thing' and said the public deserves to know where one ends and the other begins.
Capital rewards clear rules. That is why AI firms are racing to define the rules before voters do. When a company builds a political shop alongside the product, it is not just selling software. It is investing in the regulatory battlefield.
For taxpayers and investors alike, the lesson is plain. The market has already voted that AI will shape the next cycle of power. The real question is whether elected officials write those rules, or whether the firms with the biggest balance sheets do it first.
