Anthropic and OpenAI Break Q2 2026 Federal Lobbying Records — Combined $3.17M

What happened

Anthropic spent a record $1.97M on federal lobbying in Q2 2026 (+26% QoQ), nearly matching Oracle. OpenAI spent $1.2M (+18%). Combined AI-lab quarterly lobbying spend reached $3.17M, up 23% from Q1.

Context and impact

The surge is partly attributed to Anthropic's June export-control crisis around Fable 5. Anthropic's first-half 2026 spend already exceeds its entire 2025 total. AI labs are building serious political influence as Congress debates federal preemption of state AI laws.

Details

• Anthropic Q2: $1.97M (+26% QoQ) — record
• OpenAI Q2: $1.2M (+18% QoQ)
• Combined spend: $3.17M (+23% vs Q1)
• Focus areas: export controls, copyright, cybersecurity, defense contracts
• Context: Anthropic H1 2026 already exceeds all of 2025