OpenAI accused of using subpoenas to silence nonprofits

Seven nonprofits that have been critical of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, say it sent them wide-ranging subpoenas as part of its litigation against Elon Musk.

OpenAI says it was founded with the goal of benefiting humanity. But several nonprofit organizations that say the artificial intelligence behemoth has strayed from its mission allege that it has recently used intimidation tactics to silence them.

At least seven nonprofits that have been critical of OpenAI have received subpoenas in recent months, which they say are overly broad and appear to be a form of legal intimidation. All of the subpoenas are part of a legal battle between OpenAI and tech titan Elon Musk, with OpenAI suggesting that the subpoenaed nonprofits are somehow connected to Musk.

The organizations that received subpoenas had signed or organized open letters and petitions critical of OpenAI’s ongoing efforts to restructure from a nonprofit to a for-profit public benefit corporation. In one case, a subpoenaed nonprofit had also sponsored a California bill that imposed the first wide-ranging regulations on leading AI companies like OpenAI.

Six of the nonprofits were not involved in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Musk before the tech company brought them into it by issuing the subpoenas, and the remaining nonprofit had filed a supporting brief in the case but says it had not engaged with Musk. Three of the subpoenas, issued to the San Francisco Foundation, Ekō and the Future of Life Institute, have not been previously reported.

The nonprofits say the subpoenas seem designed to extract private information about OpenAI’s critics despite most of the organizations having no relation to Musk or the ongoing lawsuit.