Public First Action Launches $15 Million Conservative AI Consensus Project
Initiative opens with more than $7 million in advertising featuring four congressional leaders on AI, alongside new national polling program on conservative Americans’ AI views
WASHINGTON — Public First Action today announced the Conservative Consensus Project, a $15 million effort to elevate the broad and growing support among Republican and conservative Americans for common sense safeguards on artificial intelligence.
The project opens with more than $7 million in advertising, going live this week, featuring four Republican members of Congress who have led the fight to keep America's most advanced technology out of the hands of our adversaries and to hold AI companies accountable to the people they serve: Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Tom Cotton, Rep. Byron Donalds, and Sen. Ashley Moody.
“Conservatives built this country’s technological edge, and conservatives are not going to hand it over to Beijing or to a handful of companies that answer to no one,” said Chris Stewart, co-founder of Public First Action and a former Republican member of Congress from Utah. “The people running these AI companies have spent millions telling Washington that any guardrail is an attack on innovation. Republicans know better. This project is about making sure their voices are the loudest ones in the room.”
Over the next month, Public First Action will also be rolling out advertisements highlighting the strong records of 12 Republican members of Congress who are leading on AI security and accountability. Their records include authorship, sponsorship, and support of the AI OVERWATCH Act, the Chip Security Act, the GAIN AI Act, the MATCH Act, and the ADVERSARIES Act, as well as work to keep federal preemption of state AI laws out of the National Defense Authorization Act:
Rep. Mike Rogers, AL-03
Rep. Abe Hamadeh, AZ-08
Rep. Brian Mast, FL-21
Rep. John Moolenaar, MI-02
Rep. Max Miller, OH-07
Rep. Warren Davidson, OH-08
Rep. Chris Smith, NJ-04
Rep. Andrew Garbarino, NY-02
Rep. Sheri Biggs, SC-03
Rep. Mike Kennedy, UT-04
Rep. Jim Baird, IN-04
Rep. Jefferson Shreve, IN-06
“The loudest voices in this debate have been the ones with the most money at stake, and that is not the same thing as the voice of the American people,” said Brad Carson, co-founder of Public First Action and a former Democratic member of Congress from Oklahoma. “When you ask conservatives what they want, they want their kids protected, they want American technology to stay American, and they want somebody watching these companies. That is not a partisan position. It never was.”
Alongside the advertising, the Conservative AI Consensus Project will fund a sustained national polling program measuring conservatives’ attitudes toward AI safety, transparency, and export controls, with findings released publicly.
Public First Action is a bipartisan 501(c)(4) organization advocating for accountability, transparency, and common sense safeguards on artificial intelligence. Public First Action was founded by former Rep. Brad Carson (D-OK) and former Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) as a counterweight to the AI industry’s political machine, which has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to blocking state AI legislation, weakening export controls on advanced chips, and attempting to intimidate elected officials who support reasonable safeguards.
For more information, please contact Public First Action at media@publicfirst.us.
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