A group calling itself Neighbors for Strong Communities is using artificial intelligence to generate personalised letters urging California Attorney General Rob Bonta to drop his antitrust lawsuit against the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger. The campaign matters because it highlights growing concerns over AI-assisted lobbying and so-called "astroturfing," where corporate interests fund seemingly grassroots movements; California recently passed legislation, AB 1736, banning lobbyist employers from using fake comments to sway policy outcomes, though the group insists its letters are AI-assisted rather than AI-generated and come from real individuals.

Co-founder Tanner Kelly, an ex-lobbyist who also runs the AI letter-writing vendor Influent, said the group has mobilised roughly 2,000 people and prompted 1,000 calls to Bonta's office, while declining to name its donors and denying direct funding from Paramount. The group, incorporated in Washington DC in June, plans a press conference outside Paramount's gates and is collecting testimonials from entertainment workers worried about job losses if the studio relocates; Paramount CEO David Ellison has threatened to leave California if a deal isn't reached by 1 October, after which the company would owe Warner Bros investors $7 million per day.