Why PauseAI UK accepts anonymous donations

Let's consider two different types of donor anonymity: 1. The donor is known to PauseAI UK, but anonymous to the public. The main concern here is that PauseAI UK could be an astroturf campaign acting on behalf of, or influenced by, some interest other than the constituency that we claim to represent. For example, someone might suspect we are funded by: An investor in one of the companies, who wants us to particularly target one of their competitors. An AI company that wants to benefit from regulatory capture. An investor who is short the AI companies, who wants us to lower their share prices by campaigning for regulation and a pause. An investor who is long the AI companies, who wants us to raise their share prices by hyping up the dangerous capabilities of AI. A foreign actor who wants to strengthen UK AI regulations to give their own country a relative advantage (even though PauseAI UK advocates for an international pause agreement). On the other hand, there are good reasons why a legitimate donor might want to remain anonymous to the public. They work for an AI company and they are concerned about retaliation from their employer. [1] They also support some political candidates and they don't want those candidates to be targeted by AI company super PACs in retaliation. They want to support think tanks or inside-game advocates who don't want to be associated with grassroots advocacy. They don't want to be approached by other non-profits seeking funding. They simply value th…