Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI staff pressed Brockman over PAC ties
Leaked Slack messages showed OpenAI employees challenging Greg Brockman’s links to Leading the Future, as internal objections and reputational concerns contributed to his dropping an extra $25 million donation.
- On 1 June, Jason Kwon told employees that Greg Brockman’s support for Leading the Future was personal rather than on behalf of OpenAI.
- One employee warned in Slack that OpenAI’s political activity could push researchers towards Anthropic; the post drew 24 agreeing reactions and one eyes emoji.
- A source familiar with the matter told Semafor that employee pushback was part of Brockman’s decision, although he also had concerns after the PAC targeted Alex Bores.
- On 11 June, Brockman said OpenAI had not funded Build American AI and later abandoned an extra $25 million donation.
On 1 June, Jason Kwon showed staff a draft post saying OpenAI had no link to Leading the Future, and that Greg Brockman’s support for the super PAC was in a personal capacity. One employee replied that the company’s political activity could send researchers to Anthropic and damage OpenAI’s work on self-improving AI.
Kwon later told staff that OpenAI was taking reputational damage and that the company had set public lines, though he said it should have done so earlier. Semafor reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that employee backlash helped shape Brockman’s decision, alongside his own concerns about the PAC’s targeting of Alex Bores.
On 11 June, an employee raised a separate article about Build American AI, Leading the Future’s sister lobbying group. Brockman then denied that OpenAI had funded it, said he had given nothing to the group, apologised for the way the PAC reflected on the company, and dropped his extra $25 million pledge.
Semafor said the Slack thread continued to draw responses over the following months, with some staff questioning the group’s independence and others objecting to its tactics. OpenAI’s spokeswoman declined to comment.
Named in this story
People
- Jason Kwon
- the chief strategy officer who briefed employees and posted in Slack
- Greg Brockman
- OpenAI president who supported Leading the Future and later withdrew part of his donation
- Chris Lehane
- OpenAI’s global affairs chief who helped set up the PAC
- Alex Bores
- the New York Assemblymember targeted by Leading the Future
- Bernie Sanders
- the senator tied to a bill some PAC-backed candidates later supported
- Greg Casar
- the representative tied to the same bill
- Tyler Johnston
- the Midas Project founder who uncovered some of the PAC’s tactics
- Anna
- Brockman’s wife and co-pledgee of the $50 million commitment
Companies
- OpenAI
- the company whose staff debated its links to the PAC
- Anthropic
- the rival lab one employee named as a place researchers might leave for
Organisations
- Leading the Future
- the super PAC at the centre of the dispute
- Build American AI
- Leading the Future’s sister lobbying group discussed in the Slack thread
- MAGA Inc.
- the political group that received another Brockman donation
- Midas Project
- the nonprofit AI safety watchdog associated with those findings
How the source tells it
The piece was mostly straight reporting on an internal dispute, but it also used pointed insider detail and a later opinionated aside with alarmed language.
- alarm loaded wording in the later commentary cast AI development and company behaviour in a fearful light
- insider drama private Slack exchanges and emoji counts were used to dramatise the dispute
- editorial certainty the author’s view section stated broad conclusions as settled rather than argued