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

Six years ago, aged just 15, Sneha Revanur founded the AI advocacy nonprofit Encode AI — 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.

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 $125m-funded anti-regulation lobbyists.

So far, Encode’s strategy of taking many experimental swings has netted major victories (including California’s frontier AI safety bill, SB-53, and New York’s RAISE Act) as well as some disappointing setbacks.

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.

In today’s conversation, Zershaaneh Qureshi interrogates some of Encode’s strategic moves. The pair discuss all the above, plus:

• How the AI industry’s crypto-inspired anti-regulation strategy is not “AGI-pilled”
• Why AI advocacy doesn’t have to be held back by the slow pace of policy
• How mutual trust can hold together the unlikeliest of political allies
• Advice for aspiring AI advocates — including how to balance political persuasion with rigorous reasoning

Due to technical issues, this episode was recorded across two days (May 26 and 28, 2026) and spliced together.

Links to learn more, video, and full transcript: https://80k.info/SR

Chapters:

• Cold open (00:00:00)
• Who’s Sneha Revanur? (00:00:32)
• Sneha’s awakening to AI’s deeper risks (00:01:16)
• “If you do everything, you will win” (00:04:04)
• Influencing politics from the outside (00:06:39)
• The challenge of grassroots (00:11:16)
• Mums, musicians, and conservatives vs Big Tech (00:14:21)
• How vetoed bills can still provide wins (00:19:31)
• OpenAI’s subpoena, served at dinner (00:27:33)
• How AI money plays in politics (00:37:19)
• Easy wins vs high-upside bets (00:43:25)
• Advice for aspiring AI advocates (00:48:03)

Our production team includes:

• Video editors: Josh Alward, Dominic Armstrong, Jasper Luithlen, Milo McGuire, Luke Monsour, Simon Monsour, and Andrés Escobar
• Producer: Nick Stockton and Elizabeth Cox
• Coordination and support: Katy Moore and Lou Moran
• Music: CORBIT