Bringing in the ‘big guns': Sam Altman's campaign to keep ChatGPT on top
Huerta, too, has decades of deep ties to Democratic politicians. She supported Harris during the 2020 primary and campaigned with her in 2024, supporting Democratic candidates dating back to Robert F. Kennedy.
She told POLITICO that she met with some of OpenAI's researchers, but no members of the board or leadership. 'We didn't ask to meet with them, and they didn't ask to meet with us,' she said.
Huerta said she had 'no idea' why she was asked to sit on the commission, but guessed it was because of her civil rights background. She said she didn't know if her agreeing to it had helped the company's reputation in California, as it faces regulatory scrutiny. (Both of Bonta's parents were involved in UFW organizing.)
The commission's report strongly endorsed a nonprofit model for OpenAI with an oversight role for attorneys general and imagined the company as a new kind of philanthropic force. The advisers want OpenAI to fund a wide mix of ideas to prepare for AI's growing presence in everyday life, from supporting public parks and other common areas as AI-free spaces to research on the technology's safety risks.
The day of the report's release, OpenAI held court with more than 1,000 nonprofit leaders at events across the country. It committed $50 million to fund civic group initiatives the next day, which Lehane said could come with additional AI tools, as part of his messaging on the good the company is prepared to do if regulators allow it to operate as it wants.
'Our single best lobbyist is our innovation,' Lehane said. A key piece of his approach, he added, has been to 'forge partnerships with stakeholders and entities that are going to be particularly relevant to the public conversation' and show them OpenAI's technology.
Because the report is not binding, groups that weighed in are counting on Bonta to set the course.
Ronnie Chatterji chief economist
Chatterji is an alum of both the Obama White House and Biden administration, under which he oversaw the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act. As OpenAI's chief economist, he preaches the company message of allowing AI to flourish for the state's financial future.
'This is the largest nonprofit ever,' Bell said of why there has been such intense interest in the issue. 'We are talking about a scale that we simply have never seen before.'
Lehane, too, is wielding that fact publicly, as Bonta weighs what to do with his investigation and OpenAI's billions of dollars remain, for now, headquartered in California.
OpenAI recently appealed directly to Newsom and state lawmakers, sending them a curated report about the company's economic impact on the state, first reported by POLITICO. It was compiled by former Biden White House official Ronnie Chatterjee, now OpenAI's chief economist, and outlined the billions in revenue the state would lose if the company packs up, reaching nearly $6 billion in total economic impact in 2030.
'There is no state or country in the world today that would not want to be California when it comes to AI,' the report stated. But it warned: 'Provided, that is, that the state doesn't drive AI out of California through well-intended but not well-understood overregulation.'
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