'Disappointed but not surprised': Former employees speak on OpenAI's opposition to SB 1047

Two former OpenAI researchers who resigned this year over safety concerns say they are disappointed but not surprised by OpenAI’s decision to oppose California’s bill to prevent AI disasters, SB 1047. Daniel Kokotajlo and William Saunders previously warned that OpenAI is in a “reckless” race for dominance.

“Sam Altman, our former boss, has repeatedly called for AI regulation,” they wrote in a letter that was shared with Politico and that urges California governor Gavin Newsom to sign the bill. “Now, when actual regulation is on the table, he opposes it.” The two add that, “With appropriate regulation, we hope OpenAI may yet live up to its mission statement of building AGI safely.”

Responding to the former employees, an OpenAI spokesperson said the startup “strongly disagrees with the mischaracterization of our position on SB 1047,” in a statement to TechCrunch. The spokesperson pointed to AI bills in Congress that OpenAI has endorsed, noting that “frontier AI safety regulations should be implemented at the federal level because of their implications for national security and competitiveness.”

OpenAI rival Anthropic has expressed support for the bill while presenting specific concerns and asking for amendments. Several have since been incorporated, and on Thursday, CEO Dario Amodei wrote to Newsom, saying the current bill’s “benefits likely outweigh its costs,” while not fully endorsing the bill.