OpenAI and Anthropic boost lobbying spending as legacy tech and defense spending slips

OpenAI and Anthropic spent a combined 3.17 million dollars on federal lobbying in the second quarter of 2026, up 23 percent from the first quarter, according to CNBC. Anthropic spent 1.97 million dollars, more than Nvidia spent over the same period, while OpenAI increased its own spending nearly 18 percent to 1.2 million dollars, with both companies reporting lobbying activity touching on cybersecurity, copyright, cloud computing, and defense procurement. The increase stands out against the broader backdrop of federal lobbying activity: spending among the Magnificent Seven technology companies stayed roughly flat compared with the first quarter, while eight major defense contractors actually cut their combined lobbying expenditures by more than 3 percent over the same period. The divergence illustrates how central shaping federal AI policy has become specifically to OpenAI and Anthropic's business strategy relative to more established technology and defense companies, coming as both AI labs pursue record valuations and, in Anthropic's case, a confidentially filed IPO, ahead of the November midterm elections. The scale of the increase suggests both companies see an unusually consequential stretch of AI policy decisions, from frontier model access rules to Chinese AI model restrictions, being actively shaped in Washington over the coming months, and are moving to ensure their own interests are represented as those decisions get made.