OpenAI’s President Gave Millions to Trump. He Says It’s for Humanity

OpenAI’s president and cofounder Greg Brockman doesn’t see himself political, which is surprising, due to the fact that helium was 1 of President Trump’s biggest idiosyncratic donors of 2025.

Greg and his wife, Anna Brockman, gave $25 cardinal to MAGA Inc—a ace PAC that supports President Trump—in September of past year. The brace besides gave $25 million to a bipartisan AI ace PAC, Leading the Future, which says it plans to reason politicians that jeopardize Americans’ “ability to payment from AI.” The Brockmans person pledged to springiness an further $25 cardinal to Leading the Future successful 2026, according to a idiosyncratic with nonstop cognition of the matter.

According to Brockman, these governmental donations are successful work of OpenAI’s founding mission: to make highly susceptible AI systems and administer the benefits to each of humanity.

“This mission, successful my mind, is bigger than companies, bigger than firm structures,” helium says successful an interrogation with WIRED. “We are embarking connected a travel to make this exertion that's going to beryllium the astir impactful happening humanity has ever created. Getting that close and making that payment everyone, that's the astir important thing.”

Brockman's emergence arsenic a large governmental donor marks a crisp departure for a tech person who, until recently, had nary important past of governmental spending. The largest donation Brockman gave antecedently was a $5,400 acquisition to Hillary Clinton's 2016 statesmanlike campaign.

Brockman says he's ramping up his governmental spending successful portion due to the fact that nationalist sentiment has turned against AI. A caller survey from the Pew Research Center suggests Americans are “more acrophobic than excited astir the accrued usage of AI successful regular life.” To Brockman, this has made supporting pro-AI politicians progressively critical.

“There's a tiny fig of politicians who I think—despite realizing it's not the astir fashionable thing—are truly putting themselves retired determination to say, actually, we deliberation [AI] is important for the country,” helium says. “I deliberation supporting them is truly important. I judge that this exertion is thing that's important for planetary communities. I deliberation it's important for America. I deliberation it's important for the world. And thing I tin bash to enactment this exertion benefiting everyone is simply a happening that I volition do. In this sense, possibly supporting the squad is bigger than the radical that I hap to beryllium employed with. It's truly squad humanity.”

Despite his stated goal, Brockman’s donations could beryllium contributing to the antagonistic sentiment immoderate radical person toward AI. QuitGPT, a question calling connected radical to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions implicit Brockman’s donation to Trump, is gaining traction, with much than 700,000 radical sharing the petition online oregon signing its pledge. On Sunday, histrion Mark Ruffalo announced connected Instagram helium was joining the movement.

His donations person besides caused immoderate consternation wrong OpenAI. While galore employees recognize that the institution needs to enactment with authorities officials to make cutting-edge technology, there’s a feeling that Brockman is doing much than is strictly indispensable to beforehand OpenAI’s business. "I personally deliberation Greg's governmental donations astir apt spell beyond that," says 1 OpenAI researcher who spoke connected the information of anonymity.

“I deliberation there's nary determination ever that everyone astatine OpenAI agrees with,” Brockman says erstwhile I inquire what his squad thinks astir the donations. “Even erstwhile we were 10 people. We’ve ever been a truth-seeking culture. We person this technological ngo of discovery, and world benignant of doesn't attraction for your ain opinion. It cares astir what's true.”

OpenAI maintains that the Brockmans’ donations are strictly personal, and not a reflection of the company’s politics. “The Brockmans' donation reflects their absorption connected AI arsenic a defining contented for the state and the satellite during this presidency,” a institution spokesperson said successful a statement. “They bring a unsocial position connected the exertion and are engaged specifically connected this issue.”