OpenAI, Anthropic and other artificial intelligence companies hire Tennessee lobbyists

​America’s leading artificial intelligence companies started lobbying in Tennessee this year amid growing backlash to data centers and cameras using the technology.

​At least 11 companies tied to artificial intelligence and data centers have hired lobbyists in Tennessee, newly filed records with the state ethics board show.

​Anthropic, OpenAI, the Data Center Coalition, and the AI venture capital firm Andressean Horowitz are contracting with lobbyists in 2026 for the first time, joining companies such as Amazon, Axon Enterprises, Google, Flock Safety, Meta, Oracle, and Salesforce, which already have significant AI ties and were lobbying state lawmakers.

​The disclosures don’t show how much money companies like OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, and Anthropic, which owns Claude, are paying yet, but they indicate the companies plan to start lobbying lawmakers ahead of the January legislative session.

AI interests need to be active at the state level to counter the rising anti-data center movement.

– Brandon Glavin, OpenSecrets

​Brendan Glavin, director of insights with OpenSecrets, said some of the lobbying could relate to AI regulation but that it’s more likely to focus on data centers. OpenSecrets is a nonprofit that tracks political spending at the state and federal level.