OpenAI suspects a billionaire-backed conspiracy against the company - and is fighting back in court.
In a San Francisco Standard report, Nathan Calvin from the nonprofit AI governance group Encode describes his reaction to a surprise subpoena from OpenAI: "They seem to have a hard time believing that we are an organization of people who just, like, actually care about this." Encode, CANI, and several other small advocacy groups critical of OpenAI's move toward a for-profit business model have all faced subpoenas and complaints from the company.
OpenAI attorney Ann O’Leary says the effort is about exposing conflicts of interest: "They can engage in all the spin they want, but the one thing they continue to do is duck, dodge, bob, and weave on who is really funding them. That is the more-than-million-dollar question." O’Leary adds that the main goal is "transparency in terms of who funded these organizations" and whether their backers "hold direct equity stakes in competitors in their sector - in this case worth billions of dollars."
One detail borders on the absurd: because the chair of CANI lives in a house owned by a company called Tesla Place, LLC, OpenAI suspects a connection to Elon Musk. The homeowners, an elderly couple, told the San Francisco Standard, "We named the company that because the street used to be called Tesla Street. Elon doesn't know anything about it."
OpenAI steps up its lobbying game
The groups targeted by OpenAI deny any ties to Musk or Meta. "Fundamentally, we respect OpenAI and want its mission to succeed. Our involvement here is about making sure that the most powerful technology ever is developed transparently and responsibly; any suggestion to the contrary is false and a distraction," says Encode founder Sneha Revanur.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is growing its political influence. Through the new Super PAC "Leading the Future", which has already raised more than $100 million, tech investors and AI firms are mobilizing to push back against regulatory initiatives. The PAC says there is a "vast force out there that's looking to slow down AI deployment, prevent the American worker from benefiting from the U.S. leading in global innovation and job creation, and erect a patchwork of regulation."
