

[Linkpost] “What OpenAI Told California’s Attorney General” by Garrison
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 [...]
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Outline:
(00:12) In a previously unreported letter, the AI company defends its restructuring plan while attacking critics and making surprising admissions
(03:26) Revelations
(04:20) The key question
(05:45) Competitors and critics
(08:34) Employee motivations
(10:10) Contestable claims
(11:30) Whats left unsaid
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First published:
May 17th, 2025
Linkpost URL:
https://www.obsolete.pub/p/exclusive-what-openai-told-californias
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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