Sam Altman, chief government officer of OpenAI, throughout a hearth chat organized by Softbank Ventures Asia in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday, June 9, 2023.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. senators on Friday expressed concern to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that he is making an attempt to “cozy as much as the incoming Trump administration” with the purpose of avoiding regulation and limiting scrutiny.
In a letter signed by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Michael Bennet of Colorado, the lawmakers mentioned that within the two months because the election, massive tech corporations have made “million-dollar items to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund in what seems to be an effort to affect and sway the actions and insurance policies of the incoming administration.”
Altman personally contributed $1 million to the inauguration fund. Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon donated the identical quantity, however as corporations quite than from executives. Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly additionally contributed $1 million.
“You have a transparent and direct curiosity in acquiring favors from the incoming administration: your organization and plenty of different Big Tech donors are already the topic of ongoing federal investigations and regulatory actions,” in accordance with the letter posted by Altman on X and later by the senators on-line.
In his post, Altman wrote, “humorous, they by no means despatched me one in every of these for contributing to democrats…”
Representatives for Warren and Bennet did not instantly reply to requests for remark.
Altman plans to attend Trump’s inauguration Monday, an organization spokesperson confirmed to CNBC, and can reportedly be becoming a member of a lot of his tech friends in Washington, D.C. Others embrace Cook, TikTookay CEO Shou Chew, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Altman’s public strikes to assist Trump come alongside a thorny authorized battle between OpenAI and Musk, who co-founded the startup and has in current months been a fixture at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Musk is co-leading the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is anticipated to operate as an advisory workplace. The position might give Musk, who additionally owns X and runs SpaceX, affect over federal companies’ budgets, staffing and laws in ways in which favor his corporations, together with his AI startup, xAI.
Trump has mentioned publicly prior to now that he would repeal President Joe Biden’s AI government order, issued in October 2023, which launched new security assessments, fairness and civil rights steerage and analysis on AI’s influence on the labor market.
In the letter, lawmakers say “the business’s efforts counsel that Big Tech corporations are attempting to curry favor and skirt the principles” and that the donations “elevate questions on corruption and the affect of company cash on the Trump administration.”
It features a checklist of inquiries to be answered by a deadline of Jan. 25, together with, “When and below what circumstances did your organization resolve to make these contributions to the Trump inaugural fund?”
The letter additionally asks Altman whether or not OpenAI officers had any communications about his donation with members of the Trump transition staff or the president-elect’s different associates, requesting that he checklist all such communications.
Altman famous on X that his personal donation “was a private contribution as you state; i’m confused concerning the questions provided that my firm didn’t decide.”
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