Dark-Money Campaign Pays Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as Existential Threat
Key Takeaways
- ▸Build American AI is operating a coordinated influence campaign offering $5,000+ per video to social media creators to frame Chinese AI advancement as a threat to American security and employment
- ▸The campaign is funded by Leading the Future, a $100 million super PAC supported by tech leaders from OpenAI, Palantir, Perplexity, and other major tech figures
- ▸Influencers receive specific messaging templates instructing them to link Chinese AI progress to risks like personal data theft and job displacement
Summary
A coordinated dark-money influence campaign is paying social media influencers to frame China's artificial intelligence advancement as an existential threat to American interests, according to a WIRED investigation. The campaign, operated by Build American AI and funded by Leading the Future—a $100 million super PAC—explicitly instructs influencers to create content linking Chinese AI progress to risks like data theft and job loss. Marketing agencies are offering up to $5,000 per TikTok video, with sample messaging directing creators to warn their followers that 'China beating the US in AI' threatens American data and employment.
Leading the Future is supported by tech industry figures including OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and AI company Perplexity. While the first phase of the campaign promoted American AI innovation broadly, the current phase focuses squarely on amplifying anti-China narratives. OpenAI, while not disclaiming its president's individual support, says it has no corporate affiliation with either Build American AI or Leading the Future and has not provided funding. The campaign raises significant concerns about dark money influence on AI policy discourse and the potential for misleading narratives to shape public understanding of US-China AI competition.
- The campaign highlights concerns about dark money influence shaping AI policy discourse and the spread of potentially misleading anti-China narratives in the AI competition
