A new coalition of right-wing activists just fired a shot across the bow of Silicon Valley’s political machine. The Alliance for a Better Future (ABF) launched this week with a clear mission: push back against the AI industry’s growing influence in Washington, according to The Verge AI.
The timing isn’t accidental. ABF arrived just days after the White House released its framework for a comprehensive national AI bill, and the group’s roster reads like a who’s who of traditional conservative policy circles.
Why This Fight Matters
What’s playing out here is a genuine ideological fracture inside the Republican coalition. On one side: the tech-aligned MAGA wing, backed by massive capital from Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, who together have poured into a $100 million pro-AI super PAC called Leading the Future. On the other: the old-guard conservative movement, rooted in family values, Christian ideology, and institutional think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.
The Verge AI reports that ABF’s staffers come from serious conservative institutions:
- Heritage Foundation – the Reagan-era think tank behind Project 2025
- American Compass and American Principles Project – both Project 2025 participants
- Republican Governors Association – actual party apparatus
- America First Policy Institute – a Trump-aligned think tank
These aren’t fringe players. They’re deeply embedded in the conservative policy network that has shaped Republican governance for decades.
The Counter-Punch Was Immediate
Within hours of ABF’s launch, Nathan Leamer fired back. Leamer runs Build American AI, an advocacy group connected to the Leading the Future super PAC, and he drew a pointed distinction: ABF’s members are staffers from these organizations, not the organizations themselves. “The Heritage Foundation is not running ads against the president’s White House AI framework,” Leamer told The Verge AI, citing Heritage’s longstanding “one voice” policy.
That’s a meaningful nuance. There’s a difference between institutional opposition and individual staffers joining an outside group. But the signal is still loud: people inside the most powerful conservative institutions think Big Tech’s AI push needs a counterweight.
What This Means for AI Policy
For anyone building or investing in AI, this rift deserves close attention. Here’s why:
- Bipartisan AI skepticism is forming. Progressive critics have long pushed for AI regulation. Now a credible right-wing faction is joining from a different angle: not environmental or labor concerns, but cultural and institutional ones.
- The AI lobby’s spending advantage may not hold. $100 million buys a lot of influence, but the conservative movement has decades of policy infrastructure. If Heritage or similar institutions formally join the fight, the dynamics shift fast.
- AI legislation gets harder to predict. The White House AI framework needs Congressional support. A fractured Republican base means no one can guarantee votes along party lines.
AI safety advocate Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute, publicly positioned ABF as a counter to the Andreessen Horowitz crowd. That framing, with safety-minded conservatives aligning with AI cautionists against move-fast-and-build techno-optimists, creates strange bedfellows that could reshape the regulatory landscape.
What Comes Next
The traditional conservative movement predates the Trump-centric MAGA movement by decades, and there are real ideological differences between them. The tech right has money and proximity to the White House. The conservative movement has institutional depth and policy expertise.
For AI companies, the practical takeaway is straightforward: don’t assume that a Republican-controlled government means a rubber stamp for AI-friendly legislation. The opposition isn’t just coming from Democrats anymore.
This fight is just getting started. More details on the full political dynamics are available in The Verge AI’s Regulator newsletter.