The tug-of-war over artificial intelligence regulation is drawing a flood of money to the midterm elections as super PACs on both sides of the debate seek to influence outcomes.

Like crypto before it, AI is the new technology battleground as pro-innovation and pro-safety groups compete to shape the makeup of the next Congress, and to influence outcomes of some state races.

The spending comes after states have led on AI regulation over the past three years while President Donald Trump has pushed for a federal framework and preemption of “cumbersome” state laws. 

Read more: Trump urges Congress to preempt state AI laws

AI-focused PACs have raised $107 million and spent $55.5 million in federal races so far this cycle, according to tracking by Tech Influence Watch, a project of technology writer Molly White. 

Some of the biggest spending has been in congressional contests in Alabama, Kentucky, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. 

But more than $20 million in AI dollars – mostly from Meta and Google – have also flowed to state-level races, according to The Tech Oversight Project, which launched an AI super PAC ad library in June.

The library has cataloged over 175 ads for federal and state candidates as of this month. Most of the ads do not discuss or highlight AI as a campaign issue, researchers say. 

The state funding has largely focused on Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas. 

“Big Tech’s AI super PACs are spending a gargantuan amount of money on our elections because they want to write the rules in their favor,” Sacha Haworth, the project’s executive director, said in a June statement announcing the ad library. 

Much of the AI money is being spent to elect industry-friendly candidates. But competing super PACs have emerged to bolster pro-regulation candidates.

Read more: AI regulation sparks super PAC battle in midterm elections

Among the major players is Leading the Future, a $140 million pro-AI super PAC network whose key funders include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman. 

Leading the Future mounted an $8 million campaign to defeat New York Assemblymember Alex Bores, a Democrat, in his primary bid for a safely Democratic congressional seat. Bores was targeted after he sponsored AI safety legislation, known as the RAISE Act, which was signed into law last December.

Read more: Hochul signs AI safety bill

Three other AI-focused PACs spent a combined nearly $19 million supporting Bores, according to Tech Influence Watch. 

The mega-spending turned the crowded Democratic primary in New York’s 12th congressional district into national news and boosted Bores’ profile. He came in a close second in the June primary. 

“The result of the race was clearly to show that what was viewed as a minor or latent issue in politics is actually at the forefront,” Bores told Pluribus News.

Leading the Future is mostly supporting and opposing congressional candidates, although it has endorsed 18 Republican state legislative candidates in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah. 

“States play a critical role in getting this right, and we’re proud to champion legislators who are ready to meet that moment,” Zac Moffatt, the PAC’s co-strategist and a former top advisor to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, told The Hill in April. 

Leading the Future is also dabbling in governor’s races. It pledged $5 million in Florida in support of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican frontrunner in Florida’s governor’s race. It also spent $800,000 supporting Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson who won the Republican gubernatorial primary last week. 

Jesse Hunt, a Leading the Future spokesperson, told Pluribus News that the organization believes AI policy should be handled at the federal level with a national framework that offers protections while fostering innovation. 

“It’s very difficult to maintain all of those things doing it on a state-by-state basis in piecemeal fashion,” Hunt said. 

Read more: DeSantis pitches consumer protections for AI, data centers

Meta-funded super PACs are prepared to spend $65 million this cycle in support of pro-AI state-level candidates, including in California, Illinois and Texas, according to reporting by the New York Times. Meta also teamed with Google to create California Leads, a $10 million super PAC to support California legislative candidates, Politico reported in January. 

Neither Google or Meta responded to a request for comment. 

On the flip side are pro-AI regulation entities. The largest is Public First Action, led by former members of Congress Brad Carson, an Oklahoma Democrat, and Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican. 

The bipartisan 501(c)(4) says it “strongly supports the work of state and local legislatures to address emerging AI issues and opposes federal efforts to freeze state progress without adequate federal safeguards.”

In June, Public First Action announced that it had raised $80 million, exceeding its initial $50 million goal. Among its chief donors is the AI company Anthropic which has contributed $40 million. Company CEO, Dario Amodei, also contributed $1 million in May, according to several reports. 

“This isn’t a partisan issue – it’s about whether we’ll have meaningful oversight of the most powerful technology ever created,” Stewart said last November when the organization was announced. 

Public First’s Jobs and Democracy PAC spent $13 million supporting Bores in his unsuccessful primary race, according to Tech Influence Watch. 

Last month, Public First Action announced $15 million to bolster a dozen Republican members of Congress viewed as supportive of “AI security and accountability.” 

Public First has also run ads for Donalds in the Florida governor’s race citing his apparent opposition to federal preemption of state AI laws, according to recent reporting by Politico.

Donalds also recently announced federal legislation to regulate data centers and has signaled support for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s AI bill of rights, which did not pass this year.

Neither Donalds’ campaign nor Public First Action responded to a request for comment. 

In June, two Democratic operatives formed a new super PAC called Guardrails Alliance to serve as a foil to Leading the Future. Backers include union members, AI safety researchers and progressives, according to the PAC’s website. 

Guardrails Alliance touts financial support from current and former OpenAI employees as well as John O’Farrell, a former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. It also did not respond to a request for comment. 

“The people who build AI want guardrails. The people who profit from it want immunity. That tells you exactly who Leading the Future is fighting for,” Shaunna Thomas, the PAC’s co-founder, said in a statement last month.  

A late entrant, Guardrails Alliance spent $285,000 supporting Bores in the New York congressional primary, according to Tech Influence Watch. 

Bores said the lesson of his race is that AI, unlike crypto , is a “broad issue” that impacts virtually everyone and animates donors and voters alike.

“Americans want a say in the development of this technology,” Bores said.