Exclusive: AI safety money floods into political races

Advocates for AI safety and regulation are emerging as a force in U.S. elections, spending nearly $50 million this election cycle on candidates who favor regulation, a new analysis shared exclusively with Axios shows.Why it matters: The safety spending points to the unusual power dynamics in the AI race, where researchers shape policy and regulation in ways that differ at times from the priorities of the companies where they work.The researchers add to the advocacy and giving of an array of AI safety groups that have been well-funded for years, including from Coefficient Giving, a philanthropy