OpenAI is allegedly trying to intimidate an AI safety advocate
What's the story
Nathan Calvin, a lawyer at Encode AI, claims that OpenAI sent a sheriff's deputy to his house to serve a subpoena, which he perceives as an attempt to intimidate him. The subpoena demanded private messages between Calvin and California legislators, students, and former employees of OpenAI. Calvin believes that OpenAI is using its lawsuit against Elon Musk as a way to intimidate critics.
Legal tactics
Calvin's concerns about OpenAI's tactics
He said, "I believe that OpenAI used the pretext of their lawsuit against Elon Musk to intimidate their critics and imply that Elon is behind all of them." Last month, The San Francisco Standard had reported on OpenAI's subpoena of Encode AI to determine if it was funded by Musk.
Legal strategy
Details of the OpenAI-Musk lawsuit
The subpoena was issued as part of OpenAI's countersuit against Musk, accusing him of using "bad-faith tactics to slow down OpenAI." The company also subpoenaed Meta over its role in Musk's $97.4 billion takeover bid. Encode AI advocates for AI safety and recently published an open letter questioning OpenAI on how it plans to maintain its non-profit mission amid corporate restructuring plans.
Regulatory pushback
Calvin calls out OpenAI for 'intimidation tactics'
Calvin condemned OpenAI's actions, saying, "This is not normal. OpenAI used an unrelated lawsuit to intimidate advocates of a bill trying to regulate them." He was referring to SB 53, a landmark AI bill in California that requires large AI companies to disclose information about their safety and security processes. The bill was signed into law in September.
Company response
Response from OpenAI and other developments
In response to the accusations, OpenAI's Chief Strategy Officer Aaron Kwon said their goal was to understand why Encode chose to join Musk's legal challenge. He added that "it's quite common for deputies to also work as part-time process servers." However, Tyler Johnston, founder of The Midas Project, an AI watchdog group, reported that they too received subpoenas from OpenAI asking for a list of every journalist and organization they have spoken with about OpenAI's restructuring.
Internal reaction
Joshua Achiam's warning to OpenAI
Joshua Achiam, OpenAI's head of mission alignment, responded to Calvin's post on X. He said, "At what is possibly a risk to my whole career I will say: this doesn't seem great." He added that they cannot be doing things that make them into a frightening power instead of a virtuous one.