A report published in WIRED magazine reveals that a group of rank-and-file OpenAI employees have donated a combined total of over $215,000 to a super PAC (political action committee) pushing for stricter regulations on advanced "frontier AI labs." This group, known as the "Guardrails Alliance," launched last month with initial total funding of approximately $5 million, presenting itself as a populist initiative supported by tech workers, labor unions, and other organizations. The group's primary objective is to serve as a counterweight to "Leading the Future," a pro-industry super PAC supporting the advancement of artificial intelligence that has been funded with more than $100 million by prominent technology industry leaders, including OpenAI's president and co-founder, Greg Brockman.
According to information obtained by WIRED, seven current OpenAI employees, alongside one former employee, have donated to the Guardrails Alliance. These figures were disclosed exclusively to the magazine by the super PAC prior to the publication of their first quarterly report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on July 15. Two OpenAI employees are expected to appear in the current filing, while five additional employees are scheduled to be named in the organization's subsequent disclosures.
Research Engineers Behind the Large Donations
One of the most significant contributions from an OpenAI employee came from Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe, who donated $200,000 to the political action group. Cerón Uribe, who has served as a research engineer at OpenAI since 2022, told WIRED that he has spent the last four years working on the company's strategies to mitigate potential societal harms caused by artificial intelligence.
In a statement he provided, Cerón Uribe explained his motivations: "In this time, I’ve become concerned that all that research will have gone to waste if it doesn’t translate to guardrails that hold private companies accountable for the responsible development of AI. Tech billionaires, such as Greg Brockman, funded the super PAC Leading the Future to keep AI unregulated. I was very happy to learn that Guardrails Alliance is pushing back against LTF; my decision to donate to them was easy."
While the contributions from current and former OpenAI employees represent only a small fraction of the Guardrails Alliance's broader goal to raise $15 million in the current election cycle, and are paltry compared to the $50 million commitment made by Greg Brockman and his wife Anna to Leading the Future, they carry significant weight. Regardless of their financial size, the donations from rank-and-file workers within OpenAI highlight the growing tensions inside the company surrounding its efforts to shape AI regulatory policy.
Brockman’s donations to Leading the Future have sparked concern among some OpenAI employees, who have pressed management for explanations regarding the company’s ties to this super PAC. OpenAI executives have since tried to distance themselves from the group, but now some employees are using their private funds to directly counter Leading the Future.
The Political Strategy and the Financial Gap
Shaunna Thomas, a co-founder of the Guardrails Alliance and a longtime Democratic political organizer, noted in an interview with WIRED that she is not concerned about the massive financial gap between her group and their competitors. According to her: "Getting to $15 million enables us to follow Leading the Future into more political races. But we’re not going to match our opponents dollar-for-dollar, and we don’t have to. When you expose what the AI PACs are doing, the people reject it. We’re leveraging public opinion that already exists, and it’s less expensive to do that."
Thomas added that after witnessing the launch of Leading the Future last year, she realized that politicians proposing new regulations on the AI industry would "have a very hard time advancing that conversation when they have a $100 million threat hanging over them."
On the other hand, the Leading the Future group, which launched last summer with Brockman as one of its most prominent supporters, has stated that its goal is to "oppose policies that stifle innovation" and the political figures who support such an agenda. Among the group's first political efforts was an attempt to derail the congressional campaign of Alex Bores. Bores is the author of New York State's landmark AI safety law, and he ultimately lost in the primary elections last month. Since then, the group has continued to support several pro-industry candidates across the country.
OpenAI's Position and Additional Donors from Safety Teams
OpenAI's global affairs chief, Chris Lehane, previously told WIRED that he helped establish Leading the Future and generally advised Brockman on his political donations, although he is not involved in the PAC's day-to-day operations.
When asked for comment on this story, an OpenAI spokesperson referred WIRED to a company blog post from June, which stated that Brockman’s involvement with Leading the Future was in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the company. The blog further noted that "OpenAI employees are free to participate in the political process in their personal capacities, including by donating or providing advice to candidates, campaigns, and political organizations."
Gabriel Wu, a safety researcher at OpenAI, said he donated $5,000 to the Guardrails Alliance in an effort "to push back against Leading the Future" and the massive sums of money being spent to ensure artificial intelligence remains unregulated. Wu told WIRED: "AI is a powerful technology that could provide enormous benefits to humanity, but I worry about what will happen if we do not pass responsible regulations and instead allow a few ultra-wealthy and unaccountable individuals to control the future of AI."
Julie Steele and Jason Wolfe, two OpenAI employees who conduct research on AI alignment, each donated $5,000 to the Guardrails Alliance, according to the group's data. They, along with at least three other OpenAI employees, will appear in the super PAC's future quarterly filings with the FEC.
David Farhi, a former research manager at OpenAI who left the company last summer after seven years, donated $3,000 to the super PAC, and his details are expected to appear in the July filing. "As a leader of AI research at OpenAI for many years, it became abundantly clear to me that AI is going to present our world with both unprecedented opportunities and challenges," Farhi said in a statement to WIRED. He added that it was disappointing to see Leading the Future "actively work against OpenAI's mission by aiming to shut down" the discussion surrounding AI regulation before it even begins.
Responses From the Other Side and Congressional Battles
In a statement provided to WIRED, Leading the Future spokesperson Jesse Hunt denied that the super PAC is trying to silence public debate on AI, noting that the group has previously advocated for federal regulations on the technology. "Leading the Future has laid out a clear, positive, and proactive agenda, and we’re proud of our track record supporting a diverse array of policymakers and candidates across the country," Hunt said.
It turns out that the Guardrails Alliance is not the only PAC attempting to combat Leading the Future. Another group, Public First Action, a super PAC backed by $20 million from Anthropic, has committed to promoting AI safeguards and challenging pro-industry groups in the 2026 elections. However, Thomas emphasizes that the Guardrails Alliance is unique in that it represents a broad spectrum of interest groups and does not rely on major corporate donors.
Both groups, Guardrails Alliance and Public First Action, supported Bores in his primary race in New York's 12th congressional district. The race itself was flooded with over $27 million in spending from pro-industry and pro-safeguard groups. Thomas told WIRED that the Guardrails Alliance is currently evaluating support for additional Democratic candidates in the 2026 elections, including in California's 34th congressional district.
In addition to the OpenAI employees, the Guardrails Alliance is expected to disclose additional donors in its public filing, including a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz, John O'Farrell, although at this stage it is unclear how much money he contributed. A representative for O'Farrell did not respond to WIRED's request for comment. O'Farrell, who was the first outside partner to join Andreessen Horowitz in 2010 and left earlier this year, criticized his former colleagues in a New York Times op-ed, arguing that they are using Leading the Future to "intimidate politicians who appear to engage too aggressively with the question of how to govern A.I."