The president of OpenAI and Cofounder Greg Brockman doesn’t consider himself political, which is surprising, since he’s one of the biggest individual donors to President Trump in 2025.

Greg and his wife, Anna Brockman, gave $25 million to MAGA Inc—a super PAC supporting President Trump—in September of last year. The pair also gave $25 million of a bipartisan AI super PAC, Leading the Futuresaying it plans to oppose politicians who jeopardize “Americans’ ability to benefit from AI.” The Brockmans have pledged an additional $25 million to Leading the Future by 2026, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

According to Brockman, these political donations are in the service of the mission of building OpenAI: to develop AI-capable systems and distribute the benefits to all people.

“This mission, I think, is bigger than companies, bigger than corporate structures,” he said in an interview with WIRED. “We are embarking on a journey to develop this technology to become the most impactful thing ever created by man.

Brockman’s emergence as a major political donor marks a sharp departure for a technology leader who, until now, had no significant history of political spending. Brockman’s previous largest donation was a $5,400 gift to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Brockman said he increased his political spending in part because public opinion has turned against AI. A new one survey from the Pew Research Center suggests that Americans are “more worried than excited about the increased use of AI in everyday life.” For Brockman, this makes supporting pro-AI politicians even more critical.

“There’s a small number of politicians who I think — despite knowing it’s not the most popular thing — are really putting themselves out there to say, really, we think (AI) is important for the country,” he said. “I think supporting them is very important. I think this technology is something important for global communities. I think it’s important for America. I think it’s important for the world. And whatever I can do to support this technology that benefits everyone is something I’ll do. In this sense, maybe supporting the team is bigger than the people I work with. It’s true team humanity.”

Despite his stated intentions, Brockman’s donations may contribute to some people’s negative sentiment toward AI. Quitting GPTa movement calling on people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions because of Brockman’s donation to Trump has gained traction, with more than 700,000 people sharing the petition online or signing its pledge. Last Sunday, actor Mark Ruffalo Office has partnered on Instagram he joined the movement.

His donations also caused some consternation within OpenAI. While many employees understand that the company needs to work with government officials to develop the latest technology, there is a sense that Brockman is doing more than strictly necessary to advance the OpenAI business. “I personally think that Greg’s political donations are probably more than that,” said an OpenAI researcher who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t think there’s a decision that everyone at OpenAI agrees on,” Brockman said when I asked what his team thought about the donations. “Even if we’re 10 people. We’ve always been a truth-seeking culture. We have this scientific mission of discovery, and that kind of truth doesn’t care about your own opinion. It thinks about what’s true.”

OpenAI maintains that the Brockmans’ donations are strictly personal, and not a reflection of the company’s politics. “The Brockmans’ donation reflects their focus on AI as a defining issue for the nation and the world during this presidency,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “They bring a unique perspective on technology and are specifically engaged with this issue.”