Prominent Silicon Valley leaders, including White House AI & Crypto Czar David Sacks and OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon, have publicly criticized AI safety advocacy groups this week. These actions, which included allegations of self-interest and the issuance of subpoenas by OpenAI to several nonprofits, have led to concerns of intimidation among AI safety advocates, according to reports.
David Sacks, in a post on X, alleged that Anthropic, an AI lab that has raised concerns over AI's potential impact on unemployment, cyberattacks, and societal harms, is engaged in "fear-mongering" to advance legislation benefiting its own interests and disadvantaging smaller startups. Sacks specifically cited Anthropic's endorsement of California's Senate Bill 53 (SB 53), a law signed last month that mandates safety reporting for large AI companies. He characterized Anthropic's strategy as "sophisticated regulatory capture."
Separately, OpenAI's Jason Kwon announced the company's decision to issue subpoenas to AI safety nonprofits, including Encode, which advocates for responsible AI policy. Kwon stated that after Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company found it "suspicious" that several organizations, including Encode, raised opposition to its restructuring and filed an amicus brief supporting Musk. He indicated these actions raised "transparency questions about who was funding them and whether there was any coordination." NBC News reported that OpenAI sent subpoenas to Encode and six other nonprofits, seeking communications related to Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and support for SB 53.
AI safety groups told TechCrunch that these allegations represent the latest efforts by Silicon Valley to intimidate critics. Several nonprofit leaders, speaking anonymously due to fears of retaliation, expressed concern. Internally at OpenAI, Joshua Achiam, head of mission alignment, publicly commented on the subpoenas, stating on X, "At what is possibly a risk to my whole career I will say: this doesn't seem great." Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI, suggested OpenAI views its critics as part of a "Musk-led conspiracy" and aims to "silence critics, to intimidate them, and to dissuade other nonprofits from doing the same."
The controversy underscores the ongoing tension within Silicon Valley regarding the balance between rapid AI development and responsible deployment. Sriram Krishnan, the White House's senior policy advisor for AI, also commented on social media, describing AI safety advocates as "out of touch" and urging them to engage with "people in the real world using, selling, adopting AI." A Pew study indicated approximately half of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI, with another study finding job losses and deepfakes to be greater concerns for American voters than catastrophic AI risks, which often form the core of AI safety advocacy.
