A “dark money” campaign pays influencers to portray Chinese AI as a threat

In an Instagram video posted on April 1, lifestyle influencer Melissa Strahle posed outdoors in front of an American flag while soft music played. “AI allows me to focus on what matters most,” she tells her 1.4 million followers. “We need to invest in American-made AI to ensure America leads the way in innovation and job creation.”

Strahle described the post as an advertisement, but did not reveal who paid for it. It turns out the funding came from Build American AI, a dark money group linked to Leading the Future, a $100 million super PAC backed by, and in some cases directly funded by, tech figures affiliated with companies like OpenAI and Palantir.

The video is part of a coordinated impact campaign funded by Build American AI, which is being rolled out on social media in two phases. The first focused on working with lifestyle influencers like Strahle, who did not respond to a request for comment, to promote the American AI industry and American innovation. But the second and current phase of the campaign is all about China.

Marketing agencies are touting influencer deals like $5,000 per TikTok video to amplify Build American AI’s messages about how China’s technological rise is viewed as a threat. The goal, according to a staffer at SM4, the influencer marketing agency running the campaign on behalf of Build American AI, is to subtly shift public debate by framing China’s AI advances as a serious risk to the safety and well-being of Americans.

“They want a push to mention China and America, and why it’s important to beat China,” the employee says.

Sample messages from Build American AI to creators include lines like “I just learned that China is trying hard to beat the US in AI. If they do, it could mean China gets personal data from me and my kids, and gets jobs that should be here in the US in the AI ​​innovation race, I’m Team USA!!!”

WIRED first learned of the campaign after SM4 invited the author of this article to participate. The details were later confirmed by several other creators who received similar communication.

Josh Murphy, an ecologist with more than 130,000 followers on Instagram, who says he did not respond to SM4’s offer, explains that while he’s “not necessarily anti-AI,” the combination of public praise for the technology and aggressive anti-China messaging has had an impact. “AI can certainly be used for the good of humanity, but this unregulated industry that we have now, where it’s just dumb tech bros pursuing greed at the expense of everything else, is not what it’s supposed to be,” Murphy says.

“The United States has an opportunity to remain the world leader in AI innovation, and we are taking that message to the broadest possible audience through an all-of-the-above communications strategy,” Jesse Hunt, a spokesperson for Future Leadership, said of the campaign. “Dark money groups have spent millions spreading misinformation to the American public, and we will not let that go unchallenged. We will continue to highlight the economic benefits of AI, counter false narratives, and build the coalition needed to strengthen the national regulatory framework using every tool at our disposal.”

Leading the Future’s backers include OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman, venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and AI company Perplexity, according to the PAC. Leading the Future says it has received $140 million in total contributions and commitments, with $51 million available to spend to advance its pro-AI agenda as of April. News website NOTUS described the group as a “huge political war chest for the AI ​​industry.”