A $100 Million AI Super PAC Targeted New York Democrat Alex Bores. He Thinks It Backfired

It turns out that when an AI-friendly super PAC with $100 million in backing from Silicon Valley bigwigs identifies you as its first target, it ends up generating a lot of attention.

“I want to thank [the PAC] for their partnership in raising up the issue of how we regulate an incredibly powerful technology so that the future is one that benefits all of us,” says Alex Bores, a New York Assembly member and Democratic congressional candidate, in an interview with WIRED. “I couldn’t imagine a better partner this week.”

Earlier this year, Bores and New York state senator Andrew Gounardes coauthored the RAISE Act, a bill that would empower New York’s attorney general to bring civil penalties of up to $30 million against AI developers like OpenAI and Google if they fail to publish safety reports around their technology.

The RAISE Act passed through New York’s legislature in June, and is due to be signed or vetoed by governor Kathy Hochul before the end of the year. It’s one of a handful of state AI safety bills across the country that attempt to regulate AI developers—even as the Trump administration readies an executive order aimed at thwarting state-level AI laws.

This effort is what landed Bores squarely in the crosshairs of Leading the Future. In addition to backing from venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz, the recently formed PAC is also funded by OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman and Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale.

Andreessen Horowitz declined WIRED’s request for comment. Brockman and Lonsdale did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Leading the Future plans to spend millions of dollars to kill Bores’ bid for Congress. “Assemblyman Bores has advanced exactly the type of ideological and politically motivated legislation that would handcuff not only New York’s, but the entire country’s, ability to lead on AI jobs and innovation,” said the PAC’s leaders, Zac Moffatt and Josh Vlasto, in a statement to WIRED. They added that the PAC will “aggressively oppose policymakers and candidates in states across the country” that jeopardize Americans’ “ability to benefit from AI.” But they declined to share their next targets.

Bores believes the AI industry is threatened by his technical chops. The New York lawmaker holds a masters degree in computer science from Georgia Tech. He also worked as an engineer at Palantir for four years before quitting in 2019 over a contract the company renewed with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

”The part that scares Trump’s megadonors the most is that I actually understand AI,” he claims.