AI safety doomers pouring cash into Minn. Senate race for Sanders-backed lefty Peggy Flanagan | Latest Tech News
Silicon Valley-based AI safety “doomers” have waded into Minnesota’s US Senate race with 1000’s of {dollars}’ value of donations to Democrat Peggy Flanagan – a Sen. Bernie Sanders-backed candidate who has called AI an “existential threat” to humanity, The Post has realized.
Flanagan, the current lieutenant governor of Minnesota, is dealing with off against Republican challenger Michelle Tafoya for retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith’s seat. The race, at present rated as a toss-up by RealClearPolitics, is poised to help decide which social gathering wins a razor-thin majority in the Senate – at a time when lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are wrestling over how the AI industry must be regulated.
The far-left Flanagan, who is endorsed by AI doomsayers like Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusets, obtained at least $41,000 in donations from 12 people who work in the AI industry between July 13 and Aug. 12, according to marketing campaign finance information reviewed by The Post.
Local GOP officers allege that a win for Flanagan – who said in an interview last month that she was “concerned about the catastrophic nature of AI” – would add another voice in the Senate that would attempt to hamstring AI development with burdensome laws. Her ally Sanders, for instance, has called for a government-ordered pause of superior AI development.
“Peggy Flanagan is a socialist doomer who wants to kill innovation and give China the upper hand by pushing effective altruism dogma and fighting alongside the likes of Bernie Sanders to unleash crippling government regulations on artificial intelligence,” said Nick Puglia, regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan speaks during a marketing campaign event at a senior dwelling facility on Friday in St. Paul, Minn. Getty Images
On the marketing campaign path, Flanagan has taken a important stance toward tech.
She made headlines over the summer season for accusing a tremendous PAC supporting her centrist main opponent Angie Craig of “using an AI deepfake of me to mislead voters.”
Flanagan said in an interview last month that she was “concerned about the catastrophic nature of AI,” contending it was “moving much faster than the speed of government” – a clear nod toward strict regulation.
She called AI an “existential threat to us if it gets out of control” during a July main debate. That same month, she held marketing campaign rallies alongside Sanders in Minneapolis and Warren in Saint Paul.
Flanagan’s web site touts endorsements from Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley of Minnesota, along with Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington – distinguished members of the Democratic Party’s progressive “Squad.”
A Flanagan marketing campaign spokesperson said it’s “past time for Washington to take action on AI.”
The candidate “believes Congress needs to act now to establish mandatory independent safety testing, real enforcement authority for regulators, and legal accountability when these systems cause harm – product liability exists for everywhere else and should here, too,” the spokesperson said.
“Until then, she believes we should seriously consider a pause on further advanced AI development, without it the consequences could have catastrophic implications.”
Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya votes in the first election in Edina, Minn., on Aug. 11. Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images
Doomer cash
Meanwhile, of the 12 AI employees who donated to Flanagan’s marketing campaign, eight work at Anthropic, which has drawn criticism from both AI industry leaders and the Trump administration over CEO Dario Amodei’s frequent warnings about a potential AI doomsday.
Donors included William Saunders – a former OpenAI worker who told a Senate panel in 2024 that he give up “because I lost faith that, by themselves, [the company] will make responsible decisions about AGI.”
Another donor was Jan Leike, the ex-head of OpenAI’s so-called “Super Alignment” crew, who give up in May 2024 while warning that safety had “taken a backseat to shiny products.”
The cluster of donations is the latest signal that safety-obsessed AI researchers at frontier labs – who stand to earn hundreds of thousands when corporations like Anthropic and OpenAI go public – will soon have huge sources to affect the talk on how to regulate AI, according to one GOP strategist.
“It’s a reflection of how the doomer community is starting to activate and organize in politics – beyond just the executives distributing money to super PACs,” said the GOP strategist, who spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Peggy Flanagan for Congress. Zuma / SplashNews.com
“They’re going to become incredibly wealthy after these IPO pops. The rank-and-file frontier lab researcher is not the rank-and-file union worker in the rust belt of America.”
On July 23, Anthropic staffers Steven Bills and Daniel Ziegler donated a mixed $14,000 to Flanagan’s marketing campaign.
A day later, Anthropic technical workers member Evan Hubinger donated $4,500. Hubinger made waves on Sept. 8 for voicing assist of whistleblower Jacob Coxon, who went viral after accusing Anthropic and OpenAI of “gambling with our lives” by building superior AI.
“Jacob is correct here—we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade,” Hubinger wrote on X. “I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”
Saunders, who joined Anthropic’s AI alignment crew in 2025, made a most donation of $3,500 to Flanagan’s marketing campaign on July 30. That same day, two other Anthropic staff, Adly Templeton and Tao Lin, also gave $3,500. Lin has claimed that AI has a 20% of inflicting human extinction.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei attends a assembly with fellow artificial intelligence executives hosted by President Trump at the White House on Sept. 29. Getty Images
Leike, also now an Anthropic staffer, maxed out with $3,500 on Aug. 6. That same day, Anthropic recruiting analytics staffer Eliza Geeslin gave $50.
Outside of Anthropic, Jibran Jahshan, a vice president of software program engineer at Nvidia, gave $1,000 to the Flanagan marketing campaign on July 13. Jahshan has also donated extensively to lefty Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who helps Sanders’ proposal to ban synthetic superintelligence from being developed and has also endorsed Flanagan.
Dylan Mavrides, a quantitative data analyst at Jane Street, a trading firm recognized for its casual ties to the cult-like Effective Altruism motion and disgraced crypto kingpin Sam Bankman-Fried, donated $3,500 on July 30.
Mavrides and Anthropic’s Ziegler also gave a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} complete to the Dream NYC Super PAC, which spent closely to assist Manhattan Assemblyman Alex Bores in his failed congressional run. Bores ran on a promise to pursue heavy laws on AI corporations.
Anthropic worker Jan Leike has spoken out about AI safety dangers. Youtube/Towards Data Science
Kate Woolverton, a software program engineer at Google, donated $4,500 to Flanagan on July 23. She beforehand gave a jaw-dropping $250,000 to the Anthropic-backed, pro-AI regulation tremendous PAC Public First Action.
Woolverton was also one of many Google and OpenAI staff who signed an amicus temporary last March backing Anthropic after the Trump administration labeled the company a provide chain risk.
Adam Breon, a software program engineer at Fiddler AI, gave $50 to Flanagan’s marketing campaign on Aug. 12.
Several of the Flanagan donors, including Ziegler, Bills, Hubinger, Templeton and Leike, signed an open letter addressed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom warning of “extreme AI risks.”
The 2024 letter urged Newsom to assist California Senate Bill 1047, which drew assist from key figures and teams related with the Effective Altruism motion including the Center for AI Policy. Newsom finally vetoed the invoice.
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