Lobbyists

Photo: Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert (Getty Images)A new report from CNBC shows that lobbyists connected to the AI industry were quite busy last year. Indeed, in 2023, AI lobbying efforts shot up 185 percent from the previous year. The analysis, which is based on disclosures provided to the non-profit OpenSecrets, shows that the long list of companies that tried to exert their influence in the halls of Congress last year include prominent AI businesses like OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, and AMD, as well as companies where AI is…

Nathan E. Sanders is a data scientist and an affiliate with the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and a fellow and lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School. Lobbying has long been part of the give-and-take among policymakers and advocates working to balance their competing interests, but some corporate entities are adept at using legal-but-sneaky strategies for tilting the rules in their favor.  AI tools could make these kinds of sneaky strategies more widespread and…

Credit: Shutterstock There are numerous factors that influence public trust in government, one in particular is the relationship with people in power and lobby groups. Some of the recent scandals that have damaged public trust in British politics have related to people with private financial interests having far more access to politicians than we might like—and with people connected to politicians getting special treatment.…

Most former SpAds become 'shadow lobbyists' when they leave Whitehall, major new analysis of the career paths of political special advisors shows. Researchers found special advisers go on to corporate lobbying and policy advocacy roles, but they do not register with either the official lobbying register, or the voluntary one. A minority became politicians while numbers going on to careers in public service have…

The fossil fuel industry is utilizing think tanks and lobbyists in a push to oppose wind power in the North Atlantic, claiming they want to save whales, even though the largest source of whale death and disruption is transatlantic shipping powered by their own product, oil. We were unaware of this push until the Heartland Institute, a “think tank” that works with the fossil fuel industry to deny climate change (and also claims smoking isn’t bad for health), emailed us a press release claiming it…

The battle for domination of space by private firms is not new. The latest competition saw Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos tussle in the race to make commercial space tourism a reality. Now, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken a swipe at Bezos' Blue Origin for hiring a high-profile strategic advisory firm after it lost a $2.9 billion (roughly Rs. 21,540 crores) NASA lunar lander contract to SpaceX. Without naming Bezos, Musk said the billionaire should “consider spending some money” on actual lunar lander hardware, instead of…

Photo: Menahem Kahana (Getty Images)The embattled Israeli surveillance for hire spyware firm NSO Group is reportedly ratcheting up its U.S. lobbying efforts in a desperate attempt to get it’s name removed from a U.S. trade blacklist. That blacklist, and the stigma surrounding it, have reportedly derailed NSO’s efforts to sell off its business to prospective American buyers. Accoridng to a Tuesday ProPublica report, NSO’s reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars this year alone on lobbying, public relations firms,…