Federal lobbying disclosures show Anthropic's 1H 2026 lobbying exceeded its 2025
full-year spend. Q2 outlays were nearly $2.0m, taking 1H total to more than
$3.5m versus $3.1m in 2025. Lobbying topics include export controls,
cybersecurity, AI safety standards, DoD procurement, DOE's Genesis Mission
funding and AI use in healthcare. U.S. Commerce Department export controls on
Anthropic last month disrupted its model services and prompted urgent
negotiations with the Trump administration, filings say. Filings indicate all
major AI labs are closely monitoring shifts in U.S. AI safety standards and
regulatory approaches. OpenAI reported a record Q2 lobbying spend of $1.2m and
cited delays to its latest model rollout; its lobbying focuses include
copyright, cloud and infrastructure, cybersecurity and privacy. Google spent
$3.57m in Q2, Microsoft $2.69m and Meta $5.99m; Meta remains under bipartisan
congressional scrutiny over child online safety, a long-running issue that
conflicts with its chatbot expansion plans.