OpenAI employees donate over $215,000 to AI regulation super PAC

In short: Some OpenAI employees are donating their own money to a political group calling for stricter rules on advanced AI.

What happened

A group of current and former OpenAI employees donated more than $215,000 to Guardrails Alliance, a super PAC. A super PAC is a political fundraising group that can spend large amounts of money to support or oppose candidates, like a megaphone for political messages.

Guardrails Alliance launched last month with $5 million in initial funding and says it is backed by tech workers, labor unions, and other groups. It plans to raise $15 million during this election cycle.

The donations are partly a response to another super PAC, Leading the Future, which supports the AI industry’s view on policy. Leading the Future has been backed with more than $100 million from technology leaders, including OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman. Brockman and his wife have committed $50 million to Leading the Future, according to WIRED.

One of the biggest employee donations reported so far came from OpenAI research engineer Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe, who gave $200,000. Other reported donations include $5,000 from OpenAI safety researcher Gabriel Wu, and $5,000 each from OpenAI staffers Julie Steele and Jason Wolfe. Former OpenAI research manager David Farhi donated $3,000.

Guardrails Alliance shared some donor information with WIRED ahead of its first quarterly filing with the Federal Election Commission, expected to be public on July 15.

Why it matters

This shows a visible split inside one of the best-known AI companies about how AI should be governed. Money from both sides can shape which politicians win and what laws get written, which can affect how AI is used in everyday services like hiring, education, and health care.

Source: Wired