Post

A consulting agency in Nevada has received millions of dollars from one of the biggest pro-AI super PAC networks ahead of November’s midterms. The problem? The company doesn’t seem to exist.

Lantern Production Consultants has been paid around $20 million since last year by Think Big for a wide array of services, including polling, digital advertising, research, and strategy, according to federal campaign finance records reviewed by WIRED.

Think Big is part of a network of pro-AI super PACs funded by the Leading the Future PAC, which has taken a main role in supporting candidates who back what it calls “an AI innovation policy agenda.” The network has raised over $140 million to influence political campaigns in the midterms.

Lantern Production is just one of four mysterious LLCs that have received payments from Leading the Future. Election watchdogs argue that these LLCs are shell companies, designed to mask the identities of strategists, consultants, and production companies who are working with the super PAC network.

“This is about hiding where the money is going,” claims Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. In May, the Center filed a complaint with the FEC, which enforces campaign finance laws.

Specifically, lawyers with the Campaign Legal Center alleged that super PACs in the Leading the Future network had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by failing to disclose the actual recipients of their payments.

Leading the Future has the most cash of any pro-AI group—and it funnels money into super PACs that support both Republicans and Democrats. Think Big overwhelmingly funds Democrats, and American Mission funds Republicans.