Connor Leahy → Conjecture
Cofounder
2022 launch; historical
2022 launch also names Sid Black. March 2026 retrospective describes operational ending, not corporate dissolution.
Carries technical experience into mass persuasion and organizing
Connor Leahy
Connor Leahy is an AI builder turned campaign leader. A co-founder of EleutherAI and Conjecture, he announced his move to ControlAI US in March 2026. His trajectory connects open-source model development, a venture-backed alignment company and advocacy for binding restrictions on superintelligence.
Leahy helped found EleutherAI and then Conjecture, which launched in 2022 to work on AI alignment. Conjecture’s announcement named Leahy, Sid Black and Gabriel Alfour as founders, described a team with substantial EleutherAI experience and disclosed venture backing. It was an attempt to solve the problem by building an organization capable of technical research and product development.
His March 2026 retrospective described that effort’s unsuccessful technical and commercial course and its operational ending. He announced that he was joining ControlAI US. That move gives the present campaign part of its character: people who tried to build safer AI institutions are now arguing that political restrictions must carry work they believe technical development cannot complete in time.
The disagreement had surfaced earlier. In a signed June 2023 response, Conjecture’s leadership criticized parts of the effective-altruism and AI-safety community for supporting advanced-AI laboratories and argued for stopping superintelligence development. Leahy later debated accelerationist Guillaume Verdon. His early open-source involvement and his later restriction advocacy form a real strategic change, rather than a simple story of two permanently separate camps.
Within the current network, Leahy connects that technical history to ControlAI’s organizational capacity and public campaigning. His arguments travel through interviews, debates and the campaign’s broader outreach. Understanding his role means considering both the ideas he promotes and the institution now supporting their political use.
US filings turn the campaign into a more concrete operating structure: a US legal entity reports lobbying expenses, named lobbyists and work directed at Congress. Control AI US reported USD120,000 for Q1 and USD80,000 for Q2 2026. The US reports identify Secure Future Research in their foreign-interest disclosures. The two quarters sum to USD200,000 in rounded expense estimates; contractor disclosures and foreign-entity contribution entries must not be added as independent spending without reconciliation.
Connor Leahy Conjecture retrospective ↗Conjecture April 2022 launch ↗Contemporaneous dispute and Conjecture response ↗ControlAI team ↗Control AI US: 2026 first-quarter lobbying report ↗Control AI US: 2026 second-quarter lobbying report ↗
Assessment updated 2026-09-13
Detailed records and research
What the records show
Connor Leahy → Control AI US Inc
US Executive Director
2026-03 onward
March 2026 retrospective announced transition following Conjecture operational ending.
Connor Leahy → Control AI US Inc
Named lobbyist, Q1 and Q2 2026
2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30
Connor Leahy appears in the lobbyist lists of both first-half 2026 reports.
Connor Leahy → Pro-Human AI Declaration
Listed as declaration endorser
Checked 14 September 2026; signature date unresolved
Current declaration page lists this endorser; signature date unspecified.
From the investigation
ControlAI’s disclosed US lobbying operation
The initial registration became effective July 1, 2025 and names Max Hernandez-Zapata, disclosing his earlier job as a legislative assistant to Representative Brian Higgins. Connor Leahy appears alongside him in both 2026 quarterly reports. Nathan Morrison’s March19 registration identifies a consulting relationship with Control AI US; the second-quarter report also names him.
Read the research & sources ↗Most consequential findings
The bridge persists through people with current ControlAI roles: its about page identifies Conjecture cofounder Connor Leahy as US Executive Director, and Conjecture cofounder Gabriel Alfour as an adviser who helped Andrea establish ControlAI. The same page lists former UK Defence Secretary Des Browne as adviser, identifying his Nuclear Threat Initiative and European Leadership Network leadership. These are specific organizational access channels; their outside institutions are not thereby ControlAI funders or endorsers. [M05]
Read the research & sources ↗Later status correction from the parallel root investigation
Root independently read Connor Leahy's first-person retrospective dated 26 March 2026: https://www.ettf.land/p/conjecture-a-retrospective . Leahy describes the Conjecture chapter as ended, says its technical/product effort failed, and announces his move to ControlAI US in Washington. This follow-up therefore treats Conjecture employment and investment as historical; the June 2025 adviser title does not establish a continuing September 2026 role. Root also records Leahy's account of growing disagreement with effective altruism. Shared earlier networks should not be presented as a uniformly coordinated current bloc. Read status: source read in the parallel root investigation, not independently opened in this subagent's final bounded pass.
Read the research & sources ↗What would change this assessment
Targeted searches covered ControlAI, FLI, CAIS, Lightcone, Frame Fellowship, People First, Tegmark, Coxon, Leahy, Bilyeu, Sobel, Sanders and pacing. The null institutional findings are bounded by indexing and direct X/LinkedIn access limits. They are not proof that no private relationship exists.
Read the research & sources ↗Further reading
Read the original sources 3
See the connections
Open this part of the network ↗Rules & government
ControlAI’s US lobbying operation
Reported spending, professional roles and the UK-US disclosure link show the machinery behind congressional advocacy.
Open diagram →Rules & government
The Pro-Human coalition: declaration to assembly
Follow endorsements, the March announcement and the advertised September event.
Open diagram →What the connections say
6 relationshipsConnor Leahy → US Executive Director → Control AI US Inc
2026-03 onward
March 2026 retrospective announced transition following Conjecture operational ending.
Read the original sources 2
Connor Leahy → Cofounder → Conjecture
2022 launch; historical
2022 launch also names Sid Black. March 2026 retrospective describes operational ending, not corporate dissolution.
Read the original sources 2
Connor Leahy → Named lobbyist, Q1 and Q2 2026 → Control AI US Inc
2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30
Connor Leahy appears in the lobbyist lists of both first-half 2026 reports.
Read the original sources 2
Connor Leahy → Listed as declaration endorser → Pro-Human AI Declaration
Checked 14 September 2026; signature date unresolved
Current declaration page lists this endorser; signature date unspecified.
Read the original source 1
Connor Leahy → US executive director (published roster) → ControlAI
Scope: The published role does not establish control outside its stated scope. The separate US legal entity remains controlaius; the original US-role record is e91. This roster statement does not merge the organisations.
Read the original source 1
Connor Leahy → co-founded → EleutherAI
2020
Scope: Founding is historical, not proof of present ownership.