OpenAI Staffers Are Funding a Rival Super PAC to Take on Their Boss
Several OpenAI employees have donated to the Guardrails Alliance, a super PAC opposing the influence of tech executives who advocate for unregulated AI development. This move highlights internal friction at OpenAI regarding the company's stance on AI safety and policy.
Why it matters
It illustrates a growing trend of tech workers using personal financial power to influence corporate and political policy regarding AI safety.
Seven current OpenAI employees have donated to Guardrails Alliance, as well as one former employee, WIRED has learned. The super PAC exclusively shared some of its donors with WIRED before its first quarterly filing with the Federal Election Commission is made public on July 15. Two OpenAI employees are expected to appear in that filing, while five more are scheduled to be named in Guardrails Alliance’s future disclosures.
One of the largest donations from an OpenAI employee came from Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe, who gave $200,000 to the political spending group. Cerón Uribe, who has been a research engineer at OpenAI since 2022, tells WIRED he spent the last four years working on the company’s strategies for mitigating potential societal harms caused by AI.
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