Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story<\/p>\n
In an Instagram video posted on April 1, lifestyle influencer Melissa Strahle poses outdoors before an American flag as soft instrumental music plays. \u201cAI lets me focus on what matters most,\u201d she tells her 1.4 million followers. \u201cWe need to invest in American-made AI to ensure America leads the way in innovation and job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strahle labeled the post an advertisement, but she didn\u2019t disclose what organization had paid for it. It turns out the funding came from Build American AI, a dark-money group tied to Leading the Future, a $100 million super PAC supported by, and in some cases directly funded by, tech figures affiliated with companies like OpenAI and Palantir.<\/p>\n
The video is part of a coordinated influence campaign that Build American AI is funding, 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 US artificial intelligence industry and American innovation. But the second and current phase of the campaign is all about China.<\/p>\n
Marketing agencies are pitching influencers deals such as $5,000 per TikTok video to amplify Build American AI\u2019s messaging about how China\u2019s technological rise should be seen as a threat. The goal, according to a staffer from SM4, the influencer marketing agency running the campaign on behalf of Build American AI, is to subtly shift public debate by framing China\u2019s AI advancement as a serious risk to the safety and well-being of Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want a push to mention China and America and why beating China is so important,\u201d says the staffer.<\/p>\n
Sample messaging provided by Build American AI to content creators includes lines like \u201cI just learned that China is trying really hard to beat the US in AI. If they do, it could mean that China gets personal data from me and my kids, and take jobs that should be here in the US In the AI innovation race, I\u2019m Team USA!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
WIRED first learned about the campaign after this article\u2019s author was invited by SM4 to participate. The details were later confirmed by several other content creators who received similar outreach.<\/p>\n
Josh Murphy, an ecologist with over 130,000 followers on Instagram who says he did not respond to SM4\u2019s offer, explains that while he\u2019s \u201cnot necessarily against AI,\u201d combining generic praise for the technology with aggressive anti-China messaging felt off to him. \u201cAI can absolutely be utilized for the betterment of humanity,\u201d Murphy says, \u201cbut this unregulated industry that we have right now, where it\u2019s just wacky tech bros that are pursuing greed at the expense of everything else, is just not what it\u2019s supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States has an opportunity to remain the global leader in AI innovation, and we\u2019re taking that message to the broadest possible audience through an all-of-the-above communications strategy,\u201d Jesse Hunt, a spokesperson representing Leading the Future, said of the campaign. \u201cDark money doomer groups have spent millions spreading misinformation to the American public, and we won\u2019t let it go unchallenged. We\u2019ll continue to highlight AI\u2019s economic benefits, counter false narratives, and build the coalition needed to advance a national regulatory framework using every tool at our disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters of Leading the Future include OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman, venture capitalist and Palantir cofounder 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 push its pro-AI agenda as of April. The news site NOTUS called the group a \u201cmassive political war chest for the AI industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
An OpenAI spokesperson says that OpenAI has no corporate affiliation with Leading the Future or Build American AI and has \u201cnot provided funding or any other support to them.\u201d A spokesperson for Palantir says the company has also not contributed to either group. Perplexity declined to comment. Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Leading the Future is trying to steer AI policy in the industry\u2019s favor at a potentially pivotal moment. AI is shaping up to be a key issue in the 2026 midterms, and groups advocating for the industry are spending heavily to push back on growing public concerns about issues like data centers, energy use, and potential job displacement. Just this week, US senator Bernie Sanders promoted the claim that \u201cAI could pose an existential threat to humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Build American AI is trying to combat negative narratives about the technology by working with influencers on the platforms where Americans increasingly learn about current events. Fifty-three percent of US adults say they get at least some of their news from social media, and 38 percent of people aged 18 to 29 report regularly consuming news from influencers, according to recent polling by Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n
But influencers are not bound by journalistic ethical standards, and many do not always disclose who is funding their work. Well-funded super PACs and dark-money groups have capitalized on that reality by funneling cash into influencer marketing agencies that pay content creators to promote specific narratives. As a result, many people scrolling their social feeds are likely unaware that they\u2019re absorbing political messaging from corporate interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers don\u2019t know when the information they\u2019re receiving is paid for,\u201d says Jamie Cohen, associate professor of media studies at Queens College, CUNY. \u201cThese influencers are accepting undisclosed money from the [AI] industry, they\u2019re promoting the messaging of specific companies, and the public has no idea. It is extremely corrosive to democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A slew of high-profile lifestyle influencers across TikTok and Instagram have taken part in phase one of Build American AI\u2019s influence campaign, according to a list of example posts shared by the staffer from SM4.<\/p>\n
In early April, for example, Megan Linke, a family and kids sports influencer, posted an Instagram video explaining how AI helps her stay organized. \u201cAI is changing everything, and it\u2019s important we keep building it here in the US,\u201d she says in the voice-over. Around the same time, Uche Madson, another motherhood influencer based in Virginia, posted a video telling her 412,000 Instagram followers that she thinks \u201cit\u2019s important we invest in American AI so America leads the way in AI innovation and job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both influencers labeled the posts as advertisements but did not disclose who the advertisements were for or that they had been paid for as part of a campaign for Build American AI. Linke and Madson did not respond to requests for comment from WIRED.<\/p>\n
According to a briefing document that Build American AI provided to influencers, the organization is now seeking to \u201cextend beyond left-leaning female lifestyle and family [content creators] to focus on left-leaning influencers who are political commentators, business\/tech leaders, and male lifestyle influencers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SM4 staffer claims their agency is tasked with recruiting left-wing content creators, while a partner agency is focused on recruiting right-wing talent.On a call, the staffer said they were seeking influencers who could speak explicitly about China and the need to \u201cprotect Americans in the AI race.\u201d The briefing document instructs prospective content creators to discuss the importance of American AI while doing other activities such as "making breakfast for the kids."<\/p>\n
The rhetoric provided to influencers echoes long-standing talking points from companies like OpenAI and Palantir, which have pointed to China\u2019s AI advances as a reason to boost US AI investment and resist tighter domestic regulations on the technology. \u201cWe are going to be the dominant player, or China is going to be the dominant player, and there will just be very different rules depending on who wins,\u201d Palantir CEO Alex Karp said on The Axios Show<\/em><\/a> in November. \u201cI\u2019m worried about China,\u201d Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, told a group of reporters last year.<\/p>\n Tech companies and their executives have also repeatedly argued that advancing American AI is essential to safeguarding democracy. \u201cWhen people are worried about surveillance, of course, there are huge dangers there,\u201d Karp said last year on The Axios Show<\/em>, \u201cbut you know, you will have far fewer rights if America\u2019s not in the lead.\u201d In a blog post outlining the company\u2019s views on national security, OpenAI said it believes \u201cdemocracies should continue to take the lead in AI development, guided by values like freedom, fairness, and respect for human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n But Cohen points out that attempting to warp the information ecosystem by spreading undisclosed political messaging is not exactly in line with upholding democratic ideals. \u201cA partnership label or \u2018hashtag ad\u2019 is not enough to explain what the agenda is behind the information these influencers are presenting,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re not disclosing the agenda underneath it. This is literally propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n The influencer campaign is one of a number of efforts funded by Build American AI designed to shape public discourse about the technology. The organization has also been running advertisements on X with messaging such as \u201cAI leadership is national security\u201d overlaid atop an American flag. \u201cThe US must lead or our adversaries will.\u201d<\/p>\n This is an edition of<\/em> Zeyi Yang<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and<\/em> Louise Matsakis\u2019<\/strong><\/em> Made in China newsletter<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Read previous newsletters<\/em> here.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story In an Instagram video posted on April 1, lifestyle influencer Melissa Strahle poses outdoors before an American flag as soft instrumental music plays. \u201cAI lets me focus on what matters most,\u201d she tells her 1.4 million followers. \u201cWe need to invest in American-made AI to ensure America leads […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-49874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}