A cluster of Silicon Valley researchers who believe artificial intelligence poses an existential risk to humanity have sent at least $41,000 to Democrat Peggy Flanagan’s US Senate campaign in Minnesota, according to campaign finance records reviewed by The Post.
Flanagan, Minnesota’s current lieutenant governor, is running against Republican Michelle Tafoya for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith. RealClearPolitics currently rates the race a toss-up, and it could help decide which party controls a closely divided Senate at a moment when Congress is debating how aggressively to regulate the AI industry.
Records show 12 individuals who work in AI donated to Flanagan’s campaign between July 13 and Aug. 12. Eight of them work at Anthropic, the AI company whose CEO, Dario Amodei, has repeatedly warned of a potential AI catastrophe and drawn criticism from industry leaders and the Trump administration alike.
Flanagan has made her views on AI a visible part of her campaign. During a July primary debate she called the technology an “existential threat to us if it gets out of control.” That same month she appeared at rallies with Sen. Bernie Sanders in Minneapolis and Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Saint Paul, both of whom have endorsed her. Sanders has called for a government-ordered pause on advanced AI development.
In an interview last month, Flanagan said she was “concerned about the catastrophic nature of AI,” adding that it was “moving much faster than the speed of government.”
A spokesperson for Flanagan’s campaign said it is “past time for Washington to take action on AI,” adding that the candidate “believes Congress needs to act now to establish mandatory independent safety testing, real enforcement authority for regulators, and legal accountability when these systems cause harm — product liability exists for everywhere else and should here, too.”
“Until then, she believes we should seriously consider a pause on further advanced AI development, without it the consequences could have catastrophic implications,” the spokesperson said.
Who’s Writing the Checks
Among the donors were former OpenAI researchers William Saunders and Jan Leike, both of whom are now at Anthropic. Saunders told a Senate panel in 2024 that he left OpenAI because he “lost faith that, by themselves, they will make responsible decisions about AGI.” Leike, who once led OpenAI’s “Super Alignment” team, resigned in May 2024 warning that safety had “taken a backseat to shiny products.”
On July 23, Anthropic staffers Steven Bills and Daniel Ziegler gave a combined $14,000 to Flanagan. A day later, Anthropic technical staffer Evan Hubinger donated $4,500. Hubinger recently wrote on X in support of a whistleblower who accused Anthropic and OpenAI of “gambling with our lives,” saying, “I personally think it is >10% within the next decade” that AI could kill all humans.
Saunders gave the maximum $3,500 on July 30, the same day Anthropic employees Adly Templeton and Tao Lin each gave $3,500. Lin has claimed AI carries a 20% chance of causing human extinction. Leike maxed out with $3,500 on Aug. 6, while Anthropic recruiting staffer Eliza Geeslin gave $50 that day.
Outside Anthropic, Nvidia software engineering vice president Jibran Jahshan gave $1,000 on July 13. Jahshan has also donated to Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who backs Sanders’ push to ban development of artificial superintelligence and has endorsed Flanagan.
Dylan Mavrides, a quantitative data analyst at trading firm Jane Street, gave $3,500 on July 30. Google software engineer Kate Woolverton gave $4,500 on July 23; she has separately contributed $250,000 to the Anthropic-backed super PAC Public First Action, which favors AI regulation. Fiddler AI engineer Adam Breon gave $50 on Aug. 12.
Several of the donors — Ziegler, Bills, Hubinger, Templeton and Leike — previously signed a 2024 open letter urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a state AI safety bill, which he ultimately vetoed.
Republicans Push Back
Minnesota and national Republicans argue the donations show Flanagan would use a Senate seat to push regulations that slow American AI development. “Peggy Flanagan is a socialist doomer who wants to kill innovation and give China the upper hand by pushing effective altruism dogma and fighting alongside the likes of Bernie Sanders to unleash crippling government regulations on artificial intelligence,” said Nick Puglia, regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
A Republican strategist who spoke on condition of anonymity said the donations reflect a broader trend of AI safety researchers organizing politically ahead of expected windfalls from industry IPOs. “They’re going to become incredibly wealthy after these IPO pops. The rank-and-file frontier lab researcher is not the rank-and-file union worker in the rust belt of America,” the strategist said.
Flanagan’s website lists endorsements from progressive Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley of Minnesota, as well as Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. Flanagan also accused a super PAC backing her primary opponent Angie Craig of using an AI deepfake of her to mislead voters over the summer.
