Pro-Paramount nonprofit uses AI letters to pressure AG Bonta

The letters landing at California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office look like grassroots protest. A registered lobbyist wrote the software that produced them.

Variety reported that Neighbors for Strong Communities, a nonprofit incorporated in Washington, D.C. in June 2026, is pushing Bonta to drop his antitrust suit against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger with letters crafted by Influent, an AI grassroots-advocacy platform. Influent's co-founder Nate Saletan is also a director of Neighbors for Strong Communities. The other co-founder, Tanner Kelly, is a registered lobbyist. Two experts in our Who's Who directory shared the Variety piece.

"Nothing we do is AI-generated. It's AI-assisted. It's a real person telling a story," Kelly told Variety. The group says it has mobilized 2,000 people and generated 1,000 calls to Bonta's office, with AI touching only the letters, not the phone calls. Influent's own site says "Every Influent letter, Tweet, phone call, and message is tailored to the individual."

Two dates frame the pressure. Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1736 in July 2026, prohibiting lobbyist employers from using fake comments to influence political outcomes. And Paramount owes a $7 million-per-day fee to Warner Bros. investors if no deal closes by October 1, 2026.

Bonta has already publicly labeled a separate move by Paramount CEO David Ellison, pulling production out of California, a blackmail attempt that "won't work."