Big Tech’s Money Men Don’t Care About the Backlash

Ah, the pro-AI lobby has finally hired the kind of operatives who normally spend their time explaining why your local MP's expenses claim was actually 'administrative creativity.' Zac Moffatt and Josh Vlasto, the dynamic duo behind the Leading the Future super PAC, are now running what Politico calls an 'aggressive, well-funded machine' to oppose the so-called 'doomers' — you know, those tedious types who worry that unaligned AGI might turn the planet into paperclips. The plan? Flood the airwaves with ads portraying safety researchers as the real threat to progress, because nothing says 'responsible innovation' like outspending your critics into silence.

The logic is as elegant as it is chilling: if you can't win the argument on evidence, just drown it in cash. Moffatt, a veteran of Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, knows that repetition beats reason every time. Vlasto, formerly of the Democratic Governors Association, brings bipartisan credibility to the task of making safety concerns sound like hysterical Luddism. Together they're building a fundraising behemoth that doesn't need to persuade — it just needs to outlast. And with Big Tech's coffers behind them, that's about as difficult as staying dry in a swimming pool.

What's truly impressive is the sincerity: they genuinely believe there's no such thing as too fast, no risk worth slowing down for. The 'backlash' they don't care about includes the tiny matter of existential risk, but hey, that's tomorrow's problem. Today's problem is getting your friendly neighbourhood AI booster elected so the regulation stays 'light-touch' — which in this context means 'nonexistent until the robots have already eaten the economy.' Cheerio, doomers; the money men have spoken. ✨