Companies/OpenAI

OpenAI

Creator of GPT-4, ChatGPT, and DALL-E. Originally founded as a nonprofit research lab, OpenAI has transitioned toward a capped-profit structure and is exploring further corporate restructuring. Dramatically increased lobbying in 2025-2026 with a 7x year-over-year increase, focusing on energy policy and data center infrastructure.

AI Overview

OpenAI spent $1.5M on federal AI lobbying in Q1 2026, with $3.5M in total tracked spending. The company is active in 3 states and focuses on ai safety standards and governance, energy policy and data center infrastructure, copyright and training data rights.

$3.5M
Total Federal Lobbying
$1.5M
Q1 2026
3
States Active
5
Focus Areas

Federal Lobbying by Quarter

Q1 2024
$0.2M
Q2 2024
$0.2M
Q3 2024
$0.3M
Q4 2024
$0.3M
Q1 2025
$0.2M
Q2 2025
$0.4M
Q3 2025
$0.6M
Q4 2025
$0.8M
Q1 2026
$1.5M

Public Position

Supports AI regulation but favors a risk-based, iterative approach. Has called for an international regulatory body for frontier AI. Increasingly focused on energy and infrastructure policy as scaling demands grow. Advocates for AI safety standards while cautioning against regulation that could advantage closed-source competitors.

Policy Focus Areas

AI safety standards and governanceEnergy policy and data center infrastructureCopyright and training data rightsInternational AI safety coordinationNonprofit-to-profit corporate transition

Key Lobbyists

SASM&FL
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
SL
Steptoe LLP
CGA
Cornerstone Government Affairs
IL
Invariant LLC

Bills Lobbied On

  • 📋S. 2714 (SAFE Innovation Framework Act)
  • 📋H.R. 3369 (National AI Commission Act)
  • 📋S. 3312 (Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act)
  • 📋H.R. 4425 (Data Center Energy Efficiency Act)
  • 📋S. 896 (COPIED Act - copyright and AI training data)

Notable Actions

  • Achieved 7x year-over-year increase in federal lobbying spend from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026
  • Announced Stargate joint venture for AI data center infrastructure with SoftBank and Oracle
  • Signed White House voluntary AI safety commitments in 2023
  • Actively lobbying for favorable energy permitting to power large-scale AI training runs

State Lobbying Activity

CA
$0.5M
2025
TX
$0.3M
2025
NY
$0.3M
2025

Campaign Contributions

DSen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
$8,000
RSen. Mike Rounds (R-SD)
$6,000
DSen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
$5,500
DRep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
$5,000

Influence Score

6
$3.5M
Lobbying
$0
PAC Money
$25K
Campaign $
$3.5M
Total Footprint

⚠️ Regulatory Actions

Italy DPA (Garante)Data Privacy (GDPR)
resolved$15.0M

GDPR violations — unlawful data processing, lack of age verification for ChatGPT

€15,000,000 fine