In a previously unreported letter, the AI company defends its restructuring plan while attacking critics and making surprising admissions

This is the full text of a post first published on Obsolete, a Substack that I write about the intersection of capitalism, geopolitics, and artificial intelligence. I’m a freelance journalist and the author of a forthcoming book called Obsolete: Power, Profit, and the Race to Build Machine Superintelligence. Consider subscribing to stay up to date with my work.

OpenAI was founded as a counter to the perils of letting profit shape the development of an unprecedentedly powerful technology — one its founders have said could lead to human extinction. But in a newly obtained letter from OpenAI lawyers to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the company reveals what it apparently fears more: anything that slows its ability to raise gargantuan amounts of money.

The previously unreported 13-page letter — dated [...]

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Outline:

(00:10) In a previously unreported letter, the AI company defends its restructuring plan while attacking critics and making surprising admissions

(03:24) Revelations

(04:18) The key question

(05:43) Competitors and critics

(08:32) Employee motivations

(10:08) Contestable claims

(11:28) Whats left unsaid

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First published:
May 17th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mtgbgepheaQsAyXmG/what-openai-told-california-s-attorney-general

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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“What OpenAI Told California’s Attorney General” by garrison

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