OpenAI’s president gave millions to Trump. He says it’s for humanity

OpenAI’s president and co-founder Greg Brockman doesn’t consider himself political, which is surprising since he was one of President Trump’s biggest individual donors of 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 to a bipartisan AI super PAC, Lead the Futurewhich says it plans to oppose politicians who put Americans’ “ability to benefit from AI” at risk. The Brockmans have pledged to give an additional $25 million to Leading the Future in 2026, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

According to Brockman, these political donations serve OpenAI’s founding mission: to develop highly capable AI systems and spread the benefits to all of humanity.

“This mission, in my mind, is bigger than companies, bigger than corporate structures,” he says in an interview with WIRED. “We’re embarking on a journey to develop this technology that’s going to be the most impactful thing humanity has ever created. Getting it right and making it benefit everyone, that’s the most important thing.”

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

Brockman says he is increasing his political spending in part because public opinion has turned against AI. A recent one recording of the Pew Research Center suggests that Americans are “more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.” For Brockman, this made the support of pro-AI politicians increasingly critical.

“There’s a small number of politicians who I think — even though they realize it’s not the most popular thing — are really putting themselves out there to say, actually we think (AI) is important for the country,” he says. “I think it’s very important to support them. I believe that this technology is something that’s important to local communities. I think it’s important to America. I think it’s important to the world. And anything I can do to support this technology that benefits everyone is something I will do. In this sense, the support of the team is perhaps greater than the people I happen to be employed by. It’s really teamwork.”

Despite his stated goal, Brockman’s donations may contribute to the negative sentiment some people have toward AI. Exit GPTa movement urging people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions over Brockman’s donation to Trump is gaining traction, with more than 700,000 people sharing the petition online or signing his pledge. On Sunday, the actor Mark Ruffalo announced on Instagram he joined the movement.

His donations also caused some consternation in 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 is strictly necessary to advance OpenAI’s business. “I personally think that Greg’s political donations probably go further,” said one OpenAI researcher who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t think there’s ever a decision that everyone at OpenAI agrees on,” says Brockman when I ask what his team thinks about the donations. “Even when we were 10 people. We’ve always been a truth-seeking culture. We have this scientific mission of discovery, and reality kind of doesn’t care about your own opinion. It cares 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 country and the world during this presidency,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “They bring a unique perspective to the technology and are specifically involved in this issue.”