内华达州斯帕克斯的西班牙泉购物中心拥有众多商家，包括Spirit Halloween商店、助听器供应商和一家越南餐厅。它还容纳了一家在11月中期选举前从最大的亲AI超级政治行动委员会网络之一获得数百万美元资金的咨询机构。
The Spanish Springs shopping center in Sparks, Nevada, hosts many businesses, including a Spirit Halloween, a hearing aid supplier, and a Vietnamese restaurant. It’s also home to a consulting agency that’s received millions of dollars from one of the biggest pro-AI super PAC networks ahead of November’s midterm elections.
问题在于，该公司——Lantern Production Consultants LLC——似乎除了位于西班牙泉购物中心的一个邮政信箱之外，在其他地方并不存在。
The problem is that the company—Lantern Production Consultants LLC—doesn’t seem to exist anywhere beyond a post office box in the Spanish Springs shopping complex.
根据WIRED审查的联邦竞选财务记录，Lantern Production Consultants自去年以来已从Think Big获得约2000万美元的付款，Think Big是由领导未来政治行动委员会资助的亲AI超级政治行动委员会网络的一部分，用于包括民意调查、数字广告、研究和战略在内的广泛服务。领导未来政治行动委员会得到了主要AI投资者的支持，在支持其所谓的“AI创新政策议程”的候选人方面发挥了主要作用。
Lantern Production Consultants has been paid around $20 million since last year by Think Big, part of a network of pro-AI super PACs funded by the Leading the Future PAC, for a wide array of services, including polling, digital advertising, research, and strategy, according to federal campaign finance records reviewed by WIRED. Backed by major AI investors, Leading the Future has taken a main role in supporting candidates who back what it calls “an AI innovation policy agenda.”
它只是位于内华达州的四家神秘有限责任公司之一，这些公司从领导未来政治行动委员会网络的超级政治行动委员会（包括Think Big和American Mission）那里获得了付款。该网络同样位于内华达州，已筹集超过1.4亿美元，以影响与AI行业优先事项相一致的中期选举政治竞选活动。
It is just one of four mysterious LLCs based out of Nevada that have received payments from super PACs in the Leading the Future PAC network, including Think Big and American Mission. The network, which is also based in Nevada, has raised over $140 million to influence political campaigns that align with AI-industry priorities in the midterms.
Summit Ridge Media Group LLC在2025年12月至2026年9月期间从American Mission获得约1300万美元，其地址列为雷诺一条购物街的邮件中心。Blue Horizon Compliance Consultants也出现在文件中，其地址列为雷诺的一家Staples门店。而Prusik Partners LLC的列明地址位于内华达州亨德森的一条购物街，与一家脊椎按摩师和一家美容沙龙共用一栋楼。
Summit Ridge Media Group LLC, which received around $13 million between December 2025 and September 2026 from American Mission, lists an address at a mail center in a Reno strip mall. Blue Horizon Compliance Consultants, which also appears in the filings, has its address listed as a Staples location in Reno. And Prusik Partners LLC’s listed address is at a strip mall in Henderson, Nevada, sharing a building with a chiropractor and a beauty salon.
选举监督机构指出，这些有限责任公司实际上是空壳公司，其目的就是掩盖那些为“引领未来”组织提供服务的策略师、顾问及制作公司的真实身份。“这么做就是为了隐瞒资金的流向，”竞选法律中心的高级法律顾问莎娜·波特斯说道。
Election watchdogs argue that these LLCs are shell companies, designed to mask the identities of strategists, consultants, and production companies who are working with Leading the Future. “This is about hiding where the money is going,” claims Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center.
今年5月，竞选法律中心向负责执行竞选财务法规的联邦选举委员会提起投诉，指控“Think Big”与“American Mission”两家机构利用空壳公司违反联邦法律。该中心的律师们指出，“引领未来”网络旗下的超级政治行动委员会未能如实披露资金的实际接收方，从而违反了《联邦竞选活动法》。他们在投诉书中称，这些有限责任公司“实际上只是为其服务的超级政治行动委员会的延伸机构罢了”。
In May, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC, which enforces campaign finance laws, alleging that Think Big and American Mission had broken federal law by using shell companies in this way. Specifically, lawyers with the Campaign Legal Center alleged that super PACs in the Leading the Future network had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by failing to disclose the actual recipients of their payments. The LLCs, they wrote in their complaint, “function as mere extensions of the super PACs they serve.”
在回复《WIRED》的邮件中，“引领未来”组织的发言人杰西·亨特表示：“我们严格遵守各项相关法律。这不过是‘Public First’、‘Anthropic’以及那些看到我们的主张受到公众与政策制定者认同的团体为博取关注而使出的无奈手段。”此前《WIRED》曾联系“Anthropic”以及致力于推动人工智能透明化与安全发展的“Public First”——后者作为支持人工智能的超级政治行动委员会，得到了“Anthropic”管理层的鼎力支持——以询问其对“引领未来”指控的看法。
In an emailed statement to WIRED, Leading the Future spokesperson Jesse Hunt wrote, “We comply with all applicable laws and this is merely a desperate ploy for attention from Public First, Anthropic, and the groups aligned with their outside organizations who see our message resonating with the public and policymakers.”WIRED reached out to Anthropic and Public First—a pro-AI super PAC focused on transparency and safeguards that has significant backing from Anthropic leadership—to ask about Leading the Future’s charge.
“我完全不明白他们在说什么，”“Public First”的发言人安东尼·里韦拉-罗德里格斯回应道，“我们绝对与这份投诉毫无关联。”至于“Anthropic”，则未对《WIRED》的置评请求作出回应。
“I have no idea what they’re talking about,” said Public First spokesperson Anthony Rivera-Rodriguez. “We unequivocally had nothing to do with this complaint.”Anthropic did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
“Campaign Legal Center”认为，他们的案件短期内不太可能被美国联邦选举委员会（FEC）审理，因为目前该委员会实际上几乎毫无实质性的监管权力。FEC共有六名委员，全部由总统任命；要做出任何裁决，委员会需要至少四名委员出席会议，但自2025年5月以来，FEC一直未能达到这一法定人数。与此同时，“Think Big”和“American Mission”这两个组织继续向内华达州的有限责任公司（LLCs）投入大量资金。
The Campaign Legal Center doesn’t expect its case to be heard by the FEC anytime soon, given that the FEC is essentially toothless at the moment. The FEC has six commissioner seats, all presidential appointees. To make a decision on a legal complaint, the FEC needs a quorum of four commissioners, which it hasn’t had since May 2025. Meanwhile, Think Big and American Mission have continued to pour millions of dollars into the Nevada LLCs.
“Leading the Future”这一组织引发了公众的广泛关注：不仅因为它拥有所有支持人工智能（AI）的组织中最雄厚的资金实力（这些资金主要来自硅谷的亿万富翁马克·安德森、本·霍洛维茨以及OpenAI的总裁格雷格·布罗克曼等人士），还因为它将资金分配给那些同时支持共和党和民主党的超级政治行动委员会（super PACs）。其中，“Think Big”主要资助民主党，而“American Mission”则主要资助共和党。
Leading the Future has piqued a lot of public interest, not just because it has the most cash of any pro-AI group—thanks to Silicon Valley bankrollers like billionaire Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman—but also because it funnels money into super PACs that support both Republicans and Democrats. Think Big overwhelmingly funds Democrats, and American Mission funds Republicans.
“Leading the Future”这一组织之所以同时支持共和党和民主党，引发了专家们的猜测——他们质疑该组织为何要花费如此巨额资金来支持这些“隐蔽的供应商”（即那些不公开其身份的第三方服务机构）。通常情况下，政治策略师和咨询公司只会为某一政党提供服务，而不会同时服务于两个政党。Tech Oversight Project（一个批评大型科技公司的非营利组织）的副执行主任凯尔·莫尔斯（Kyle Morse）表示：“如果你正在参加民主党的初选，而‘Think Big’却选择在你的选区投放广告，并使用共和党的供应商和服务团队来制作这些广告，那确实是一件值得关注的事情。”
The fact that the Leading the Future network is playing both sides of the aisle, supporting AI-friendly Democrats and Republicans, has generated speculation from experts as to why it’s spending so much on shielded vendors. Typically, political strategists and consultants cater to Democrats or Republicans, not both. “If you’re running in a Democrat primary and Think Big comes to spend in your race, and they drop half a million on your congressional district doing positive ads while using Republican vendors and strategists—that’s news,” speculates Kyle Morse, deputy executive director of Tech Oversight Project, a nonprofit advocacy group that’s critical of big tech.
超级政治行动委员会选择隐藏其供应商的原因多种多样，有些可能是出于善意，有些则可能出于不良目的。在这种情况下，这些企业可能只是不想让自己的名字与支持人工智能的竞选活动联系在一起。不过，由于FEC在可预见的未来仍无法达到法定开会人数，莫尔斯指出：“我们根本无法查明这里到底发生了什么。”
There are plenty of reasons why a super PAC may want to hide its vendors, ranging from benign to nefarious. In this instance, it's possible businesses don’t want to be publicly associated with a pro-AI campaign. But with the FEC lacking a quorum for the foreseeable future, “We are not fundamentally equipped to figure out what’s happening here,” says Morse.
“Leading the Future”并非唯一一个被指控通过空壳公司来为供应商提供庇护的政治行动委员会（PAC）。今年早些时候，“Campaign Legal Center”向美国联邦选举委员会（FEC）提交了针对支持持枪权利的YouTube博主Brandon Herrera的投诉，称其竞选活动的资金有超过99%是通过“Texas Strategy Group”这一机构发放的；该机构被指控被用作“空壳实体”来掩盖资金流向。
Leading the Future isn’t the only PAC accused of shielding vendors by using shell companies. Earlier this year, Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC against pro-gun YouTuber Brandon Herrera, who is running for Congress in Texas District 23, alleging that more than 99 percent of his campaign’s disbursements were funneled through Texas Strategy Group, which was, the complaint claimed, “being used as a shell entity.”
当被要求发表评论时，Herrera的竞选团队将记者转介给了负责运营“Texas Strategy Group”的保守派人士Matt Braynard。Braynard强烈否认了“Campaign Legal Center”的指控，称该投诉“毫无根据”，不过是某个党派性倡导组织重复使用的旧有法律论调罢了。此外，“Campaign Legal Center”还向FEC提交了针对“Lead Left PAC”的投诉——这个所谓的“超级政治行动委员会”实际上是由共和党人士资助的，却伪装成民主党组织，其目的据信是干涉民主党的初选进程；该组织被指控通过支付空壳公司来掩盖其与共和党策略师的关联。
When reached for comment, Herrera’s campaign directed WIRED to conservative personality Matt Braynard, who runs Texas Strategy Group. Braynard strongly denied the Campaign Legal Center’s accusations, calling the complaint “meritless” and “little more than a recycled legal theory from a partisan advocacy group.”Campaign Legal Center also filed a complaint with the FEC against Lead Left PAC, a pop-up super PAC that was funded by Republican operatives while posing as a Democratic entity with the presumed goal of meddling in Democratic primaries. Campaign Legal Center accused it of paying shell companies to avoid being linked to Republican strategists.
Ports指出，这标志着竞选资金使用方式的一个令人担忧的趋势，尤其是在政治领域中“暗钱”（即非法或隐蔽的资金来源）已经泛滥的背景下。“目前根本无法追踪这些资金的来源，这本身就已经很糟糕了，”Ports说，“现在又出现了新的问题：一些组织通过各种手段隐藏资金的去向。因此，选民们根本无法了解这些资金的真正来源和用途。”
Ports says that this marks a disturbing trend in campaign finance, at a time when dark money in politics already reigns. “There’s no way of tracing the source behind the money, and that’s bad enough on its own,” says Ports. “Now there’s this new component, where groups are playing games to hide where the money is being spent. As a result, voters really lack fundamental information about where the money is coming from and where it’s going.”