“Had they just asked if I’m funded by Musk, I would have been happy to give them a simple ‘man I wish’ and call it a day,” he wrote. “Instead, they asked for what was, practically speaking, a list of every journalist, congressional office, partner organization, former employee, and member of the public we’d spoken to about their restructuring.”
“We wanted to know, and still are curious to know, whether Encode is working in collaboration with third parties who have a commercial competitive interest adverse to OpenAI,” Kwon wrote, noting that subpoenas are a standard method of gathering information in any litigation. “The stated narrative makes it sound like something it wasn’t.” Kwon included an excerpt of the subpoena that he said showed all the requests for documents OpenAI made.
Calvin wrote Friday that Encode—which he emphasized is not funded by Musk—had criticized OpenAI’s restructuring and worked on AI regulations, including SB 53. In the subpoena, OpenAI asked for all of Calvin’s private communications on SB 53.
“I believe OpenAI used the pretext of their lawsuit against Elon Musk to intimidate their critics and imply that Elon is behind all of them,” he said, referring to the ongoing legal battle between OpenAI and Musk over the company’s original nonprofit mission and governance. Encode had filed an amicus brief in the case supporting some of Musk’s arguments.
“I didn’t want to go into a ton of detail about it while SB 53 negotiations were still ongoing and we were trying to get it through,” he said. “I didn’t want it to become a story about Encode and OpenAI fighting, rather than about the merits of the bill, which I think are really important. So I wanted to wait until the bill was signed.”
Encode was founded by Sneha Revanur, who launched the organization in 2020 when she was 15 years old. “She is not a full-time employee yet because she’s still in college,” said Sunny Gandhi, Encode’s vice president of political affairs. “It’s terrifying to have a half a trillion dollar company come after you,” Gandhi said.
Encode formally responded to OpenAI’s subpoena, Calvin said, stating that it would not be turning over any documents because the organization is not funded by Elon Musk. “They have not said anything since,” he added.
Calvin described the episode as the “most stressful period of my professional life.” He added that he uses and gets value from OpenAI products and that the company conducts and publishes AI safety research that is “worthy of genuine praise.” Many OpenAI employees, he said, care a lot about OpenAI being a force for good in the world.
“I want to see that side of OAI, but instead I see them trying to intimidate critics into silence,” he wrote. “Does anyone believe these actions are consistent with OpenAI’s nonprofit mission to ensure that AGI benefits humanity?”
