#246 – Sneha Revanur on how a small team of activists helped pass America's landmark AI safety laws

<p>Six years ago, aged just 15, Sneha Revanur founded the AI advocacy nonprofit <a href="https://encodeai.org/">Encode AI</a> — back when AI felt like a niche issue. Now the world’s caught up with her, and she’s ready to share everything she’s learned about the politics of AI.</p><p>Encode has grown from a grassroots youth organisation to spearheading an unlikely coalition of AI-exposed groups — family-first conservatives, grieving mothers, Hollywood actors, and AI safety researchers — with the strength to take on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_the_Future">$125m-funded anti-regulation lobbyists</a>.</p><p>So far, Encode’s strategy of taking many experimental swings has netted major victories (including California’s frontier AI safety bill, <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB53">SB-53</a>, and New York’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsible_AI_Safety_and_Education_Act">RAISE Act</a>) as well as some disappointing setbacks.</p><p>Going up against Big Tech hasn’t been easy. In 2025, OpenAI subpoenaed Encode’s general counsel at his home, with a sheriff’s deputy arriving while he was having dinner with his wife. The fallout went viral, resulting in more attention than Encode had ever experienced — and Sneha was forced to decide how hard to push back against a company she’d need to negotiate with for years to come.</p><p>In today’s conversation, Zershaaneh Qureshi interrogates some of Encode’s strategic moves. The pair discuss all the above, plus:</p><ul><li>How the AI industry’s crypto-inspired anti-regulation strategy is not “AGI-pilled”</li><li>Why AI advocacy doesn’t have to be held back by the slow pace of policy</li><li>How mutual trust can hold together the unlikeliest of political allies</li><li>Advice for aspiring AI advocates — including how to balance political persuasion with rigorous reasoning </li></ul><p><em>Due to technical issues, this episode was recorded across two days (May 26 and 28, 2026) and spliced together.</em></p><p><strong>Links to learn more, video, and full transcript</strong>: <a href="https://80k.info/SR">https://80k.info/SR</a><em></em></p><p>Chapters:</p><ul><li>Cold open (00:00:00)   </li><li>Who’s Sneha Revanur? (00:00:32)   </li><li>Sneha’s awakening to AI’s deeper risks (00:01:16)   </li><li>“If you do everything, you will win” (00:04:04)   </li><li>Influencing politics from the outside (00:06:39)   </li><li>The challenge of grassroots (00:11:16)   </li><li>Mums, musicians, and conservatives vs Big Tech (00:14:21)   </li><li>How vetoed bills can still provide wins (00:19:31)   </li><li>OpenAI’s subpoena, served at dinner (00:27:33)   </li><li>How AI money plays in politics (00:37:19)   </li><li>Easy wins vs high-upside bets (00:43:25)   </li><li>Advice for aspiring AI advocates (00:48:03)   </li></ul><p><br></p><p><em>Our production team includes:</em></p><ul><li><em>Video editors: Josh Alward, Dominic Armstrong, Jasper Luithlen, Milo McGuire, Luke Monsour, Simon Monsour, and Andrés Escobar</em></li><li><em>Producer: Nick Stockton and Elizabeth Cox</em></li><li><em>Coordination and support: Katy Moore and Lou Moran</em></li><li><em>Music: </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/4lWobp6IUcSZ7w5mhnU1c9"><em>CORBIT</em></a></li></ul>