{"id":8445,"date":"2026-01-30T15:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/openai-critics-houses\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:02:06","slug":"openai-critics-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/openai-critics-houses\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI Representatives Are Going to Critics\u2019 Houses With Threats and Demands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A man who works at an AI watchdog group was alarmed when OpenAI suddenly showed up at his doorstep last fall, demanding he turn over documents. To his utter disbelief, he was being subpoenaed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit scary to know that the most valuable private company in the world has your address and has shown up and has questions for you,\u201d the man, Tyler Johnston, who founded the nonprofit advocacy group The Midas Project, said in a new interview<\/a> with A More Perfect Union.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were asking for every former employee we had spoken to and what we said to them,\u201d he added. \u201cEvery congressional office that we spoke to, every potential investor that we spoke to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnston wasn\u2019t alone. In all, NBC News <\/em>reported last October<\/a> that at least seven nonprofits that had been critical of OpenAI were served with subpoenas around the time of reporting, as part of a lawsuit between OpenAI and Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

Later the same October that Johnston was subpoenaed, OpenAI completed its restructuring into a for-profit public benefit corporation<\/a>, a move that was over a year and a half in the making. It had been challenged at every turn by Microsoft<\/a>, which had invested billions of dollars into the startup, and Musk, who cofounded OpenAI but left the company in 2018 reportedly over disagreements with Altman, and who was now suing it for abandoning its original altruist mission of building open source models.<\/p>\n

As the suit dragged out, a paranoid-sounding OpenAI began accusing its critics of being funded by Musk. And that\u2019s how representatives from the company ended up at Johnston\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted every single text message and document that we had that in any way related to OpenAI\u2019s restructuring,\u201d he told Perfect Union.<\/em><\/p>\n

The subpoenas also came as OpenAI and other tech companies worked to shoot down a California bill that would\u2019ve required the companies to restrict minors\u2019 access to their AI models unless they could demonstrate their guardrails prevented the bot from promoting self-harm and other dangerous topics. With its restructuring on the line, and under threat of being subjected to powerful regulation, OpenAI had every reason to be more conscious of its image than ever. (Governor Gavin Newsom eventually vetoed the bill<\/a>, and a weaker version of the legislation was enacted instead.)<\/p>\n

As other AI watchdogs came forward to share how OpenAI had subpoenaed them as well, Johnston confronted its chief strategy officer Jason Kwon, who made a post on X accusing The Midas Project of having \u201csuddenly\u201d formed around when Musk sued OpenAI, arguing this raised \u201ctransparency questions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d wrote<\/a> an exasperated Johnston. \u201cWe were formed 19 months ago. We\u2019ve never spoken with or taken funding from Musk and ilk, which we would have been happy to tell you if you asked a single time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact,\u201d he added, \u201cwe\u2019ve said he runs xAI so horridly it makes OpenAI \u2018saintly in comparison.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Weeks later, Johnston revealed how the news coverage of how his organization had gotten dragged into the lawsuit caused insurance brokers to refuse to cover his nonprofit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you wanted to constrain an org\u2019s speech, intimidation would be one strategy, but making them uninsurable is another, and maybe that\u2019s what\u2019s happened to us with this subpoena,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s sounding more jaded than ever about the lengths that companies like OpenAI will go to to protect themselves. \u201cThe AI industry broadly is ready to play hardball,\u201d he said in the interview.<\/p>\n

More on OpenAI: <\/strong>Asset Manager Warns That OpenAI Is Likely Headed for Financial Disaster<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The post OpenAI Representatives Are Going to Critics\u2019 Houses With Threats and Demands<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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