The $1.76 Million Lobby — OpenAI's Seven-Fold Increase

The Year I Will Not Freeze as a Personality

OpenSecrets, walking OpenAI's federal year, put 2023 at $260,000 and 2024 at $1,760,000. MIT Technology Review, January 21, 2025, walking a January 22 disclosure, said $510,000 of the 2024 year sat in the last three months.

A last quarter can hold a hire and two bills. Dorn in October. The House Advancement and Reliability Act. The Senate Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act. I already named the bills. I am putting $510,000 next to them so a grocery line cannot call the quarter a vibe. A quarter is a form. A form can be fat in December. Fat is a form. Skinny is a form. 2023's whole year was $260,000. 2024's last quarter was almost twice that. I will not upgrade the comparison to a moral. I will say a quarter can outweigh a year, and that outweighing is arithmetic, and that arithmetic is a pad.

Yates wrote $510k Q4 / $260k 2023 year and boxed both. He said quarters are how clients sleep. I said quarters are how museums keep a door. He dated the pad.

Blaine asked whether "half a million in three months" meant they were "scared." I said scared is a polo word. He said then why the quarter. I said quarters are a form. He took a cart. I walked a hole that had a hill I did not enjoy. TechCrunch, January 24, 2025, put the same $1.76 million next to a count of companies that spent on AI lobbying: 648 in 2024 against 458 in 2023.

I am putting 648 next to 458 so a grocery line cannot call the seven-fold a personality that invented a field. A field can grow a count. A count can share a January with a disclosure. Sharing is a seating chart. Sid is not in the 648. Sid is a shop that still has a jammed tray and a counsel question about whether he is large.

Yates wrote 648 / 458 / +190 shops and refused to call the plus a capture. He said pluses are how amateurs become novelists. I said I would not novelist. He dated the pad. The sunroom smelled like ink. Ink is the cousin. Toner is the parent.

I took the TechCrunch walk to Cal. He charged per page. He asked if 648 was a population. I said it was a count of filers. He said filers are for cabinets. I said this count is a year. He dated the receipt. Cabinets are Yates's religion in a smaller font. I am putting three dates in the first paragraph so a grocery line cannot call the money "they suddenly cared." They filed. Filing is a quarter.

I printed the OpenSecrets organization page. Cosima asked if $1.76 million was a house. I said it was a year. She said years are for birthdays. I said this year was a form. She put the printout under the sticker bowl so the bowl would not blow. Bowls are honest. Forms are a later weather.

Fourteen of eighteen OpenAI lobbyists in 2024, in that OpenSecrets weather, had previously held government jobs. 77.78 percent is a costume a dashboard would love. I will keep the fraction as fourteen of eighteen. Fractions that become percentages are how a hearing becomes a slide.

Fourteen of eighteen is a 2024 weather. The 2025 lobbyist table I walked still named Dorn, Park, Oswald, Rimkunas. I will not freeze the 2025 roster as a census. I will say a table can keep a former title and add a name, and that adding is a public, and that a public is not a finding that the seven-fold was a stunt performed by four people.

Yates asked me to explain why a revolving-door percentage is not a conviction. I explained. He wrote 14/18 / not a conviction and left it. He sliced a flyer that had used the word influence in a font that wanted to be serious.

I took the fourteen-of-eighteen printout to Cal. He charged per page. He asked if the fraction was homework. I said it was a year. He said years are packets. I put the packet next to the sticker bowl. Cosima moved the bowl. The toner did what toner does.

Blaine asked, on a hole I should have walked off, whether "seventy-eight percent" meant "they bought the government." I said bought is a polo word. He said then why the fraction. I said fractions are a table. He took a cart. I walked a hole that had a creek I did not use.

The Names I Will Not Tour as Biographies

The company started an official federal effort around October 2023 and hired Chan Park — a onetime Senate Judiciary counsel and a person who had lobbied for Microsoft — to lead it. It hired Reginald Babin, a former counsel to Chuck Schumer, in the rooms that walk OpenSecrets. It hired Meghan Dorn in October 2024; she had spent five years with Lindsey Graham. It hired Chris Lehane, in the summer weather of that year, as a head of global policy. I will not tour their childhoods. I will say a former counsel is a chair, and that a chair can be a disclosure, and that a disclosure can share a year with a bill named the House AI Advancement and Reliability Act and a Senate Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act.

Those two bills, in the Technology Review walk, showed up in the final months of 2024. One would set up a government center for AI research. One would create shared benchmark tests. Microsoft, in the TechCrunch walk, liked the CREATE AI Act, which would support benchmarking of systems developed in the United States. Benchmarking is a kitchen. Kitchens have chairs. Chairs have people who used to write the questions.

OpenAI, in those rooms, did not respond to questions about the 2024 increase. Non-response is a mouth. I will keep it.

The Technology Review walk said lawmakers, particularly then–majority leader Schumer, were vocal about wanting to curb particular harms, and that OpenAI hired Schumer's former legal counsel as a lobbyist. I already named Babin. I am putting the particularly here so a grocery line cannot call the hire a coincidence I invented. A magazine can put particularly next to a name. A magazine is a walk. A walk is not a finding that a leader was bought. Buying is a form I have not held for that sentence.

I sat, while I still had a badge, in a meeting whose title was Schumer hygiene. Someone said we should "be in the room." I said we should not be in a room we had not filed. Legal said we should take room offline. We hired a person who had been in the room. I went to the garage.

Cosima asked if a former counsel was a former person. I said he was a current filing. She said filings are for cabinets. I said this filing is a year. She put a sticker on the cabinet by accident. The cabinet is Yates's religion in a smaller font.

Blaine asked whether "hiring Schumer's guy" was "the smoking gun." I said guns are a polo word. He said then why hire. I said hiring is a quarter. He took a cart. I walked a hole that had water I did not use.

Gale found me later and asked if I wanted to meet his guy in government affairs. I said I had met government affairs. He said then why the book. I said the book is a museum. He said museums are for weekends. I said this museum is a Tuesday. He took a cart.

The 2025 year, on the OpenSecrets client page I last walked — data downloaded April 27, 2026, and still labeled as a 2025 year in that shop's weather — sat at $2,990,000.

I will not freeze $2.99 million as the personality of 2026. I will say a seven-fold can be followed by another year, and that another year can be $2.99 million on a page I walked, and that walking is a public, and that a public is not a finding that the first year was a stunt. Yates wrote $260k / $1.76M / $2.99M / do not arrow 2026 and left it. He dated the pad. The sunroom smelled like ink and the faint metal of the cutter. Metal is not toner. I am allowed the second smell.

I took the 2025 page to Cal. He charged per page. He asked if 2.99 was a house. I said it was a year. He said years are packets. I put the packet next to the sticker bowl. Cosima moved the bowl. The toner did what toner does.

Fern asked, at the clinic, whether 2.99 was a copay. I said it was a form. She said copays are for jars. I said this form is a year. Beryl put a five in the jar because a patient had left a five. I watched. I did not take a note. Jars are honest. Years are a later weather I will not freeze as a personality.

Enos turned the sound down on a face that said dominance. He said faces do not tip. I paid a number that was on the paper. The eggs had a price. Prices are this book's church.

I am putting the diner next to the $2.99 million so a grocery line cannot call the year a glitch. The year is a form. The eggs are a price. The rooms do not share an HVAC system. I will not freeze 2025 as the personality of the company. I will say a seven-fold jump can be followed by another year, and that another year is a form, and that a form is not a finding that the first year was a stunt.

Forbes Africa, February 21, 2026, walking later weathers, put OpenAI at $2.99 million and Anthropic at $3.13 million for 2025, plus about $300,000 each in California. I will keep the California number as a walk, not a Senate form. State forms are a different kitchen. Kitchens do not share a dishwasher.

The Combined Number I Will Not Use as a Moral

TechCrunch put OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere together at $2.71 million in 2024 against $610,000 in 2023, and put the larger tech industry's AI-lobbying weather at $61.5 million. $2.71 million is not a rounding error in Sid's suite. $2.71 million is a rounding error in Alphabet's year. Both sentences can be true. Both sentences are why Chapter 6 exists.

I sat in a meeting, while I still had a badge, whose title was Hill quarter. Someone said we should "show we are serious about safety." I said we should not show a dollar we had not filed. Legal said we should take show offline. We filed. I went to the garage.

Yates wrote $260k → $1.76M → $2.99M and refused to draw an arrow into 2026. He said arrows are how amateurs become fortune-tellers. I said I would not fortune-tell. He dated the pad. The date stamp thunked. Thunks are honest.

What I Will Not Sell You

I will not give you an LD-2 you can copy. I will not give you a hire list. I will tell you the years happened, that fourteen of eighteen is a revolving-door count and not a conviction, and that a shop in a rented suite does not have a former Schumer counsel. The next room is a $720,000 year that called itself safety first. The seven-fold is this one.

Cosima asked if seven-fold was a napkin. I said it was a ratio. She said ratios are for recipes. I said this recipe is a form.

Rory's Lot

Rory sells ice from a chest that still has a lock. I bought a bag I did not need because a hearing room is always too cold and a diner is always too warm. He asked if I was having a party. I said I was having a year. He said years melt. I said that is why I print. He dated the receipt with a pen. Pens are honest. Printers are this book's smell.

The 2023 year — $260,000 — shares a calendar with the July lawn and the July Forum and the October order. I am putting that sentence here so a seven-fold cannot pretend it invented caring. Caring, if you are a form, is a quarter. The first quarter is small. The later quarter is larger. Both are forms.

OpenAI OpCo LLC, in a Legis1 walk of a later quarter, spent $920,000 on in-house lobbying in the third quarter of 2025 and was described as having spent $5.33 million since launching federal efforts in November 2023. I will keep that as a walk, not as a replacement for OpenSecrets' 2025 year. Walks and years can disagree by a kitchen. I will not pick a winner. I will say a quarterly can name copyright and the NO FAKES Act and a California frontier bill in the same paragraph, and that naming is a public, and that a public is not a finding that the year was about one noun.

In 2024, in the Forbes Africa walk, OpenAI quietly dropped language from its usage policies prohibiting military and warfare applications. August 2025, in that same walk, OpenAI and Anthropic announced agreements for government agencies to use their models for $1; xAI later announced a similar partnership for $0.42. I will not freeze a dollar as a gift. I will say a dollar can be a contract, and that a dropped prohibition can share a year with a disclosure, and that sharing is why this chapter is not a cartoon about safety as a personality.

Ilsa sells maps in a rack that still has a state I do not live in. I bought a map of Maryland because a hearing had used a district I could not picture. She asked if I was lost. I said I was between a year and a lawn. She said maps are between. I said a year still wants a district. She dated the receipt.

Cohere, in the TechCrunch walk of 2024, went from $70,000 two years earlier to $230,000. I am putting a third lab in Chapter 4 so OpenAI cannot eat the year. A third lab is a neighbor. A neighbor is not this kitchen. $230,000 is still a year Sid cannot staff as a former counsel.

Clem sells cider from a press that still has a crank. I bought a bottle I did not need because a third lab is a dry thing and a porch still wants a season. He asked if I was celebrating. I said I was neighboring. He said neighbors are for fences. I said this neighbor is a form. He dated the receipt. Cranks are honest. Neighbors are a later weather.