AI Influence Spending Booms, Signaling Monumental Clashes Ahead

Disrupting jobs, fueling a data center boom, even killing off this em dash—artificial intelligence is the conversation policymakers, and the rest of us, just can’t escape.

That’s especially the case in Washington, where spending on federal AI influence hit an all-time high last year. Lobbying firms reported a record $37.2 million in earnings from AI-related influence peddling in the fourth quarter alone, a 38% jump from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis.

For the full year, Washington lobbyists received almost $130 million for work related to AI, as Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet ...