Part of EPR's Public Affairs and Political Communications pillar. See also: Government Relations and Lobbying and Biggest Lobbying Groups in the US.
Part of the EPR Research franchise. Full six-component architecture and cross-vertical study catalog: EPR Research Methodology & Catalog. Updated October 7, 2026 with Q2 2026 filings.
Anthropic spent $1.97 million on federal lobbying in Q2 2026 and OpenAI spent $1.2 million, both records, according to filings posted July 20. Anthropic's first-half total of more than $3.5 million already exceeds the $3.1 million it spent in all of 2025. Meta led all companies in 2025 with $26.29 million, and more than 3,570 federal lobbyists worked AI issues that year, roughly one in four.
EPR Research released The AI Lobbying Industry Map 2026, the first systematic mapping of how AI companies and their trade associations are deploying federal lobbying capacity. The Study draws from the Senate Office of Public Records, the House Lobbying Disclosure database, OpenSecrets, Issue One, and Public Citizen's analysis of LDA filings.
What Did AI Companies Spend on Federal Lobbying in Q2 2026?
Federal disclosures filed in July show both leading AI labs raising their lobbying outlays for a second straight quarter, ahead of the midterm elections. Per CNBC's review of the filings and Bloomberg Government:
| Company | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Change |
|---|
| Anthropic | $1.56M | $1.97M | Up 26% |
| OpenAI | $1.02M | $1.2M | Up about 18% |
| Anthropic and OpenAI combined | $2.58M | $3.17M | Up 23% |
| Meta | About $7.0M | $5.99M | Down 15% |
Both labs roughly doubled their lobbying outlays compared with Q2 2025. Anthropic, OpenAI and Waymo together spent a record $4.3 million in the quarter, per Bloomberg Government. Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia together reported about $21.25 million, nearly flat against Q1. Filings list cybersecurity, copyright, cloud computing and defense procurement among the issues the AI labs lobbied on.
Which AI Companies Spent the Most on Federal Lobbying in 2025
Top tech and AI companies spent more than $100 million on federal lobbying in 2025, the first time the category exceeded that figure. Per Bloomberg's compilation of federal LDA filings:
| Company | 2025 Federal Lobbying Spend |
|---|
| Meta | $26.29M, highest of any company in any industry |
| Amazon | $17.89M |
| Alphabet (Google) | $13.10M |
| Microsoft | $9.36M |
| Nvidia | $4.9M, 7x its 2024 spend |
| Anthropic | $3.1M for the year, per Bloomberg Government ($720K in 2024) |
| OpenAI | About $3M, up from $1.76M in 2024 and $260K in 2023 |
Why Anthropic Outspent OpenAI in Q1 2026
Per Issue One's review of newly filed federal lobbying reports, 11 key technology, social media, and AI companies and their associated trade associations together spent a combined $20 million on federal lobbying between January and March 2026, an average of about $226,000 per day.
Anthropic reported nearly $1.6 million in Q1 2026, a 333 percent increase from the $360,000 it spent in Q1 2025, an average of roughly $17,000 per day. OpenAI reported $1 million for the quarter, an 82 percent year-over-year increase. Nvidia reported $1.3 million in Q1 2026, up 37 percent year-over-year. Snap reported $400,000 and X reported $190,000, both up modestly. ByteDance, parent of TikTok, went the other direction: $1.6 million in Q1 2026, down roughly 45 percent from $2.8 million in Q1 2025, following the January 2026 deal that restructured U.S. ownership through Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX.
How Many Lobbyists the Largest AI Companies Employ in Washington
According to Issue One, the six largest tech, social media, and AI companies (Alphabet, Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI) collectively hired 307 lobbyists during Q1 2026. That is the equivalent of slightly more than one lobbyist for every two members of Congress.
- Alphabet alone hired 88 lobbyists, roughly one for every six members of Congress.
- Meta hired 86 lobbyists, also roughly one for every six members.
- 30 of the 307 lobbyists work for private K Street firms representing two or more of these six companies.
Per Public Citizen's analysis of House lobbying disclosure data, 3,570 federal lobbyists reported lobbying on AI issues at least once in 2025, more than 25 percent of the entire federal lobbying corps. Three years ago, that figure was 11 percent. The number of unique lobbyist-client relationships on AI issues has grown 265 percent over the past three years. The number of data center lobbyists alone has grown nearly 500 percent.
If AI were classified as a single OpenSecrets issue area, it would rank fourth in the United States behind only the federal budget and appropriations, taxes, and health. For the broader spending picture, see Biggest Lobbying Groups in the US.
What Each Company's Filings Reveal About Its Policy Focus
Anthropic has pivoted into healthcare AI and Defense Department procurement. Q1 2026 disclosures reference the Healthcare AI Accountability Act (S. 4178) and DoD acquisition policy. Anthropic retained Ballard Partners to pursue Pentagon AI procurement contracts following public disputes over Anthropic's acceptable use policy and classified-setting deployment.
OpenAI has pivoted into energy and infrastructure, focused on the Stargate joint venture with SoftBank and Oracle and on data center permitting reform, including the Data Center Energy Efficiency Act (H.R. 4425). OpenAI's lobbying spend has grown roughly 7x year-over-year on this push.
Meta has the most aggressive state-level operation. Per CalMatters, Meta spent at least $4.6 million lobbying California state officials in 2025, more than in any prior year since it began Sacramento advocacy in 2010, and transferred $20 million to a new political committee created to support candidates favoring fewer AI regulations. Meta also made 34 behested payments totaling $1,245,000 at the request of California officials in 2025.
The Revolving Door Between AI Companies and Washington
OpenAI hired Reginald Babin, former legal counsel to then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as a registered lobbyist. OpenAI later hired veteran political operative Chris Lehane as VP of policy and global head of policy. Meta recruited a former Trump adviser as president and vice chairman in 2025. OpenAI hired a former Trump adviser to lead its global energy policy. OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife together gave $25 million to a Trump-aligned political action committee.
Anthropic brought on its first in-house lobbyist, Department of Justice alum Rachel Appleton, in late 2024. The Data Center Coalition, which counts OpenAI and Anthropic among its members, reported $420,000 in Q1 2026 lobbying, more than tripling from $123,000 in Q1 2025.
How This Study Was Compiled
The Study draws from Senate Office of Public Records LDA filings (LD-1 registrations and LD-2 quarterly reports), House lobbying disclosure data, OpenSecrets aggregations, Issue One filings reviews, Public Citizen analysis of AI-issue lobbying volume, Bloomberg compilations of company-level totals, CNBC and Bloomberg Government reporting on Q2 2026 filings, and CalMatters analysis of California state lobbying. Coverage spans federal lobbying for FY2023 through Q2 2026, plus California state lobbying for 2024 and 2025. Aligned with the six-component EPR Research architecture.
Disclosed Limits
Lobbying disclosure undercounts: not all advocacy meets the LDA registration threshold, dark-money advocacy is excluded entirely, and the February 2025 DOJ memorandum from Attorney General Pam Bondi limiting FARA enforcement may suppress future filings. Quarterly figures are based on initial filings and may be revised. Q3 2026 filings are due around October 20, and this page will be updated when they post.
Why This Lobbying Surge Matters for Communications Teams
For 25 years, the most consequential algorithm in communications was Google PageRank. The most consequential algorithm in U.S. federal policymaking is now whichever AI model becomes the dominant inference engine inside government. The companies fighting to set those rules are deploying lobbyists at the highest rate in the history of federal disclosure. Every public affairs firm, every comms team at a regulated company, every reporter covering AI policy, and every state attorney general's office has reason to track this map. See also Who Is Lobbying on AI Regulation and What They Actually Want.
The AI Lobbying Industry Map is one entry in the EPR Research franchise. Every study runs the same six-component architecture, applied to a different domain.
