šØ Knock, knock. Itās the cops, and theyāre here for your DMs! šØ
Nathan Calvin, a lawyer at Encode AI, a nonprofit advocating for AI policy, had an unexpected dinner guest one Tuesday night. A sheriffās deputy showed up, armed with a subpoena from none other than OpenAI. The company wanted access to Calvinās private messages with California lawmakers, students, and former OpenAI employees. Yikes!
Calvin wasnāt having it. āI believe OpenAI used the pretext of their lawsuit against Elon Musk to intimidate their critics,ā he wrote on X, suggesting that OpenAI was trying to silence dissent by implying Musk was behind every critic.
Hereās the deal: OpenAI and Elon Musk are locked in a legal battle, with Musk accusing the company of straying from its nonprofit roots. OpenAI has been countersuing, and in the process, theyāve subpoenaed Encode AI, asking if theyāre funded by Musk. Theyāve also gone after Meta, wanting info on Muskās takeover bid.
Encode AI, however, has been busy advocating for AI safety and transparency, even helping to pass Californiaās landmark AI regulation bill (SB 53). So, no, not exactly Muskās secret army. Calvin thinks the timing of the subpoena, during the billās debate, was no coincidence and felt like intimidation.
OpenAIās response? Crickets. Well, not quite. Their strategy chief, Aaron Kwon, said they just wanted to understand why Encode joined Muskās legal challenge. But serving subpoenas during dinner? Thatās some next-level legal maneuvering.
And guess who else got a subpoena? The Midas Project, another AI watchdog, received one demanding a list of everyone theyāve ever talked to about OpenAI. Double yikes!
Even some OpenAI insiders arenāt thrilled. Joshua Achiam, head of mission alignment, admitted on X, āThis doesnāt seem great.ā When your own ethics chief thinks youāre the bad guy, it might be time to rethink your tactics, OpenAI.
So, whatās next? Only time will tell. But one thingās for sure, OpenAIās legal moves have left a sour taste in the mouths of their critics.
