Oversight chair seeks information from OpenAI’s Sam Altman about potential financial conflicts
WASHINGTON— Chairman of the House Oversight Committee sent a letter OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman requesting information regarding potential conflicts of interest between Altman’s personal investments and company operations.
The letter, sent Friday, comes amid a high-stakes legal battle in an Oakland federal courtroom between former partners Altman and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who founded the artificial intelligence company known for creating ChatGPT in 2015.
The company was originally founded solely as a nonprofit, and the letter to Altman from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the Republican chairman of the oversight committee, states that the committee is “exploring potential conflicts of interest involving capital from nonprofit companies investing in startups and other for-profit companies.”
By May 22, Comer requested a briefing from the company official responsible for oversight of potential conflicts involving company officers and directors, including Altman, and all documents related to conflict of interest policies and guidance for those executives.
Although OpenAI was created as a nonprofit organization designed to responsibly harness the power of emerging AI technology, the company created a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 and launched ChatGPT three years later, accelerating widespread adoption of the technology.
Musk, Tesla’s CEO, left Open AI’s board in 2018, a year before the for-profit arm was created. He argues that Altman and another co-founder, Greg Brockman, betrayed the nonprofit’s original mission, motivated by a desire to “make money” from technology.
Musk added Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, to the lawsuit in 2024. OpenAI is said to be preparing to go public later this year or early next year, and recently valued 852 billion dollars.
Musk said he invested $38 million in the OpenAI nonprofit but is not ready to benefit from a potential OpenAI IPO.
In 2023, he founded a rival company, xAI, which was later incorporated into his own company, SpaceX.
In the lawsuit, Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages to remove Altman from the company and return the company to its fully nonprofit status.
Musk’s complaint also alleges that Altman pursued his own interests by directing OpenAI to make deals with companies in which he held personal stakes, including nuclear fusion energy company Helion.
Comer’s letter reportedly states that Altman’s ongoing pursuit of a Helion deal would result in a high valuation of the energy company, increasing the value of the company and the value of Altman’s investment.
Altman was forced to briefly resign as leader of OpenAI in 2023, in part due to concerns about potential conflicts between his personal investments and the company’s operations, but was soon reinstated.
Although the company’s board of directors formed an audit committee to investigate possible conflicts between Altman and other officers, the findings were never disclosed.
Comer demanded that Altman turn over all documents and communications related to that audit committee.
OpenAI representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
