Reid Hoffman

Reid Hoffman donated more than $10 million to Future Forward USA PAC supporting Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. He has given more than $55 million to Democrats over the past four years and nearly $9 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party since 2020.

In July 2024, Reid Hoffman publicly called for Vice President Kamala Harris to replace Lina Khan as FTC Chair if elected. Khan had aggressively pursued antitrust enforcement against Big Tech, including unsuccessfully trying to block Microsoft's $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. Hoffman's call was widely criticized as a major Democratic donor seeking to weaken tech regulation, given his financial interests in companies affected by FTC enforcement including Microsoft (board member until 2023) and various tech investments through Greylock Partners.

At the Sun Valley Conference in July 2024, Reid Hoffman reportedly responded to Peter Thiel's comment about making Trump a martyr by saying he wished he had made Trump an 'actual martyr.' The comment came just before the attempted assassination of Trump. Hoffman later clarified he 'meant nothing about any sort of physical harm or violence.'

Reid Hoffman co-founded Inflection AI in 2022 while simultaneously serving as a Microsoft board director. When Microsoft hired most of Inflection's staff and paid approximately $650 million in licensing fees in March 2024, Hoffman's dual role raised significant conflict of interest concerns. The FTC investigated the deal as a potentially illegal acqui-hire. Hoffman promised all Inflection investors would have a 'good outcome.' He left the Microsoft board in March 2023 but remained a co-founder of Inflection.

At the Fortune Brainstorm AI conference in December 2023, Reid Hoffman publicly dismissed calls to pause advanced AI development, calling such ideas 'foolish' and 'anti-humanist.' He argued the focus on AI risks was overblown, stating 'the real important thing is to not fumble the future.' This positioned him against the March 2023 open letter signed by thousands of AI researchers calling for a six-month pause on training systems more powerful than GPT-4, and against broader precautionary approaches to AI safety.

Reid Hoffman was revealed to be the primary backer of E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, funding the suit to the tune of millions through the nonprofit American Future Republic. The grant was made before Carroll filed suit. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million.

In May 2018, Reid Hoffman and his wife Michelle Yee joined The Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. Through his Aphorism Foundation ($1 billion), Hoffman funds five areas: science, economic opportunity, democracy, AI, and human rights. He launched the $10 million Trust in American Institutions Challenge through Lever for Change to scale solutions restoring public trust in schools, government bodies, media, and medical systems. His foundation also supports Equal Justice Initiative, AllRaise for VC equity, and Opportunity@Work for workforce training.

Reid Hoffman admitted to funding 'Project Birmingham,' a technology firm that created fake social media personas to convince conservatives to sit out the 2017 Alabama Senate special election against Roy Moore. The initiative created fake Facebook pages designed to discourage Republican voters. Hoffman later apologized, claiming ignorance of the tactics used.

Reid Hoffman personally committed $10 million to a $27 million fund created with the Knight Foundation and Omidyar Network to apply humanities and social sciences to AI development. The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative supported research at MIT Media Lab and Harvard Berkman Klein Center focused on ensuring AI serves the public interest.

Reid Hoffman visited Jeffrey Epstein's private island, Little St. James, in 2014 and met with Epstein at MIT's campus in 2013 - after Epstein had become a registered sex offender. The relationship began through MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito for fundraising purposes. In September 2019, after the scandal erupted publicly, Hoffman apologized: 'By agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice.' In November 2025, President Trump ordered an investigation into Democrats mentioned in newly released Epstein files, including Hoffman.