Two former OpenAI researchers have spoken out against the company’s opposition to SB 1047, a California bill that would implement strict safety protocols, including a “kill switch,” in AI development.
In a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom and other lawmakers that was first published by Politico, the former employees wrote that OpenAI’s opposition to the bill was disappointing but not surprising.
“We joined OpenAI because we wanted to ensure the safety of the incredibly powerful AI systems they were developing,” researchers William Sanders and Daniel Kokotajiro wrote in the letter, “but we are leaving OpenAI because we have lost confidence that the company will develop AI systems safely, honestly, and responsibly.”
Sanders and Kokotajiro did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
They continue: “Developing cutting-edge AI models without adequate safeguards poses foreseeable risks of catastrophic public harm.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has repeatedly publicly supported the concept of AI regulation, citing his congressional testimony calling for government intervention, but “when actual regulation comes on the agenda, he opposes it,” Sanders and Kokotajiro wrote.
“We strongly disagree with any misrepresentation of our position on SB 1047,” an OpenAI spokesperson told BI in a statement. The spokesperson directed BI to a separate letter written by OpenAI’s chief strategy officer Jason Kwon to California Sen. Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill, explaining the company’s opposition.
SB 1047 “prompted thoughtful discussion,” Kwon wrote in his letter, written the day before the researchers’ letter was sent, and OpenAI said it supports some of the letter’s safety provisions, but that given the national security implications of AI development, the company believes regulations “should be developed and implemented at the federal level.”
“A set of federally led AI policies, rather than a patchwork of state laws, would spur innovation and position the United States to lead the development of global standards,” Kwon’s letter said.
But Sanders and Kokotajiro aren’t convinced that pushing for federal legislation is OpenAI’s only reason for opposing California’s SB 1047, calling the company’s complaints about the bill “unconstructive and disingenuous.”
“We cannot wait for Congress to act; it has made clear it has no intention of passing meaningful AI regulation,” Sanders and Kokotajiro wrote. “If Congress were to act, it would preempt California’s legislation.”
The former OpenAI employee concluded: “We hope that the California Legislature and Governor Newsom will make the right decision and pass SB 1047 into law. With proper regulation in place, we are hopeful that OpenAI will be able to fulfill its mission of building AGI safely.”
Representatives for Weiner and Newsom did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment.
