You might recall a story in the SF Standard that talked about OpenAI retaliating against critics. Among other things, OpenAI asked for all my private communications on SB 53 - a bill that creates new transparency rules and whistleblower protections at large AI companies. 2/15

Why did OpenAI subpoena me? Encode has criticized OpenAI’s restructuring and worked on AI regulations, including SB 53. I believe OpenAI used the pretext of their lawsuit against Elon Musk to intimidate their critics and imply that Elon is behind all of them. 3/15

There’s a big problem with that idea: Elon isn’t involved with Encode. Elon wasn’t behind SB 53. He doesn’t fund us, and we’ve never spoken to him. 4/15

OpenAI went beyond just subpoenaing Encode about Elon. OpenAI could (and did!) send a subpoena to Encode’s corporate address asking about our funders or communications with Elon (which don’t exist). If OpenAI had stopped there, maybe you could argue it was in good faith. 5/15

But they didn’t stop there. They also sent a sheriff’s deputy to my home and asked for me to turn over private texts and emails with CA legislators, college students, and former OAI employees. 6/15

This is not normal. OpenAI used an unrelated lawsuit to intimidate advocates of a bill trying to regulate them. While the bill was still being debated. 7/15

OpenAI had no legal right to ask for this information. So we submitted an objection explaining why we would not be providing our private communications. (They never replied.) 8/15

A magistrate judge even chastised OpenAI more broadly for their behavior in the discovery process in their case against Musk. 9/15

This wasn’t the only way OpenAI behaved poorly on SB 53 before it was signed. They also sent Governor Newsom a letter trying to gut the bill by waiving all the requirements for any company that does any evaluation work with the federal government. 10/15

There is more I could go into about the nature of OAI's engagement on SB 53, but suffice to say that when I saw OpenAI’s so-called “master of the political dark arts” Chris Lehane claim that they "worked to improve the bill," I literally laughed out loud. 11/15

Prior to OpenAI, Chris Lehane’s PR clients included Boeing, the Weinstein Company, and Goldman Sachs. One person who worked on a campaign with Lehane said to the New Yorker “The goal was intimidation, to let everyone know that if they fuck with us they’ll regret it” 12/15

I have complicated feelings about OpenAI - I use and get value from their products, and they conduct and publish AI safety research that is worthy of genuine praise. I also know many OpenAI employees care a lot about OpenAI being a force for good in the world. 13/15

I want to see that side of OAI, but instead I see them trying to intimidate critics into silence. This episode was the most stressful period of my professional life. Encode has 3 FTEs - going against the highest-valued private company in the world is terrifying. 14/15

Does anyone believe these actions are consistent with OpenAI’s nonprofit mission to ensure that AGI benefits humanity? OpenAI still has time to do better. I hope they do. 15/15

@_NathanCalvin This makes me furious. I've shared it - if you're reading it, please consider sharing it too. Make sure every OpenAI employee knows their employer is doing this.

@S_OhEigeartaigh Thanks so much Seán, really appreciate it

@_NathanCalvin Sorry dude, it's wild that they did this. Yet another example how this is crazy different from the OpenAI we used to know :-(

@_NathanCalvin this is a wild yet not surprising story. i havent read about this bill; is there anything in it that you feel is satisfactory in terms of regulation, or is it just compitultaion to AI companys?

@_NathanCalvin Wild move during a bill fight