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You might recall a story in the SF Standard that talked about OpenAI retaliating against critics. Among other things, OpenAI asked for all my private communications on SB 53 - a bill that creates new transparency rules and whistleblower protections at large AI companies.
2/15
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Emily Dreyfuss
@EmilyDreyfuss
Inside OpenAI, there's a growing paranoia that some of its loudest critics are being funded by Elon Musk and other billionaire competitors. Now, they are going after these nonprofit groups, but their evidence of a vast conspiracy is often extremely thin sfstandard.com/2025/09/02/ope
Why did OpenAI subpoena me? Encode has criticized OpenAIโs restructuring and worked on AI regulations, including 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.
3/15
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The Midas Project
@TheMidasProj
Breaking: A group of 100+ Nobel laureates, professors, whistleblowers, public figures, artists, and nonprofit organizations just released a letter asking OpenAI to tell the truth about its restructuring.
Hereโs what they had to say: 
Thereโs a big problem with that idea: Elon isnโt involved with Encode. Elon wasnโt behind SB 53. He doesnโt fund us, and weโve never spoken to him.
4/15
OpenAI went beyond just subpoenaing Encode about Elon. OpenAI could (and did!) send a subpoena to Encodeโs corporate address asking about our funders or communications with Elon (which donโt exist).
If OpenAI had stopped there, maybe you could argue it was in good faith. 5/15
But they didnโt stop there.
They also sent a sheriffโs deputy to my home and asked for me to turn over private texts and emails with CA legislators, college students, and former OAI employees.
6/15
This is not normal. OpenAI used an unrelated lawsuit to intimidate advocates of a bill trying to regulate them. While the bill was still being debated.
7/15
OpenAI had no legal right to ask for this information. So we submitted an objection explaining why we would not be providing our private communications. (They never replied.)
8/15
A magistrate judge even chastised OpenAI more broadly for their behavior in the discovery process in their case against Musk.
9/15
This wasnโt the only way OpenAI behaved poorly on SB 53 before it was signed. They also sent Governor Newsom a letter trying to gut the bill by waiving all the requirements for any company that does any evaluation work with the federal government.
10/15
There is more I could go into about the nature of OAI's engagement on SB 53, but suffice to say that when I saw OpenAIโs so-called โmaster of the political dark artsโ Chris Lehane claim that they "worked to improve the bill," I literally laughed out loud.
11/15
Prior to OpenAI, Chris Lehaneโs PR clients included Boeing, the Weinstein Company, and Goldman Sachs. One person who worked on a campaign with Lehane said to the New Yorker โThe goal was intimidation, to let everyone know that if they fuck with us theyโll regret itโ
12/15
I have complicated feelings about OpenAI - I use and get value from their products, and they conduct and publish AI safety research that is worthy of genuine praise.
I also know many OpenAI employees care a lot about OpenAI being a force for good in the world.
13/15
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Sam Altman
@sama
Replying to @sama
AI scheming is a particularly important risk we've been studying. More here:
openai.com/index/detectin
I want to see that side of OAI, but instead I see them trying to intimidate critics into silence.
This episode was the most stressful period of my professional life. Encode has 3 FTEs - going against the highest-valued private company in the world is terrifying.
14/15
Does anyone believe these actions are consistent with OpenAIโs nonprofit mission to ensure that AGI benefits humanity?
OpenAI still has time to do better. I hope they do.
15/15
This makes me furious. I've shared it - if you're reading it, please consider sharing it too. Make sure every OpenAI employee knows their employer is doing this.
Sorry dude, it's wild that they did this. Yet another example how this is crazy different from the OpenAI we used to know :-(
On a lighter note, never has this meme been more apt than with OpenAI's head of Mission Alignment channeling Eliezer to pronounce this action:
Nathan , my son tried to say what is going on inside OpenAI โif you believe what I believe you must quit โ he was silenced. The very fact he was silenced shows something gross and utter harm is being created, he told me he came across it casually and then he was followed,
At first I thought you meant that the subpoena itself was written by ChatGPT.
Nothing more to say than all your supporters are saying, Nathan. You and the team at Encode are the real deal. Both in the sense that of course you arenโt an astroturf operation, but also in how you comport yourself in public and private dialogue. The world of AI policy is much
Listen to this podcast episode of Darknet Diaries. Be careful out there. PI's looking into critics is more common than people realize.
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Darknet Diaries
@DarknetDiaries
Ep 99: The Spy
@igor_ostrovskiy is private investigator in NYC. He's often sitting in cars keeping a distant eye on someone with binoculars. In this episode we hear about a time when Igor was on a case but sensed that something wasn't right.
darknetdiaries.com/episode/99
Good on you for not giving in. That is a ridiculous overstep by OpenAI, and as I went through the thread I was praying you fought back.
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Nathan Calvin
@_NathanCalvin
Replying to @_NathanCalvin
OpenAI had no legal right to ask for this information. So we submitted an objection explaining why we would not be providing our private communications. (They never replied.)
8/15
You would think big tech would learn not to go after those making criticisms of their companies after the whole eBay stalking scandel. I listen to this podcast so I know of many incidences of private investigators being used by tech companies to intimidate
Am I the only one that gets the vibe that Open Ai is the bad guy in every story?
People need to pay attention to my reporting. OpenAI is publicly stating they want to hire someone who will โreduce risk of opposition.โ This is not a minor statement.
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![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="48" height="48"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>)
Kristen Ruby
@sparklingruby
OpenAI is hiring a Community Affairs Lead of Superintelligence Infrastructure - Stargate
OpenAI is looking for someone who can build relationships with residents and reduce risk of opposition.
![Image](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="652" height="900"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>)
Hi Nathan:
You are deep in my wheelhouse right now. We should talk if you want to mount the correct response to what's happening here, because literally nobody else is going to tell you what I tell you.
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The Short Straw
@short_straw
I promised a thread this weekend about OpenAI and the lawsuit I filed against them, and an explanation of what I hope to achieve here. Sorry for the length, but there's a lot going on here.
To begin with, we need to understand what โOpenAIโ really is: a poorly constructed scheme
Show more
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This alone is all the evidence a reasonable person needs to distrust OpenAI completely.
This story should become national news (alongside their other similar actions). OpenAI's intimidation and silencing tactics need to be stopped.
is willing to risk all organic life and desires to capture โthe light cone of all future value in the universeโ and so other poor behavior isnโt a surprise.
There is a dark 
undertow here
Seems like an 
evil thread and threat model operating inside OpenAI
Lawfare is for food lawyers but it truly impacts us all.
Whistleblowing is on of the hardest things to do 
I know for first experience.
undertow here
Seems like an evil thread and threat model operating inside OpenAI
Lawfare is for food lawyers but it truly impacts us all.
Whistleblowing is on of the hardest things to do
I know for first experience.That moment when writing policy feels like starring in a legal thriller, complete with a knock from a sheriffโs deputy bearing a subpoena, underlines how AIโs surge isnโt confined to boardrooms. It teaches that todayโs tech advocacy can redirect your evening plans into a
Three FTEs vs. OpenAIโs war chest: David vs. Goliath, but with more NDAs and PR firms. Howโd you even sleep during this?
If you look at Sam Altmans wiki page under early life. Youโll see why he acts this way.
Silence from the labโs press release lineup often yells louder than buzzwords. When OpenAI sidesteps tough questions, youโre glimpsing the puppet strings, so dive into GitHub issues, devour policy changelogs, and treat hidden comment threads like secret Easter eggs spilling
What do they plan on doing to non-Americans? What happens when you send me a subpoena and I laugh and toss it in my Canadian trash? 
Thank you for your advocacy! I wish tech put the resources & energy they use for self-protection into protecting their usersโฆ keep up the good work! NCOSE stands with you in this movement for safe AI.
NCOSE stands with you in this movement for safe AI.
Wow. Thereโs no way that any of this is in good faith.
They know they their arguments hold no water so the only option that feel they ah e left is intimidation.
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Kristen Ruby
@sparklingruby
OpenAI is hiring a Community Affairs Lead of Superintelligence Infrastructure - Stargate
OpenAI is looking for someone who can build relationships with residents and reduce risk of opposition.
We're hiring. Building the future while writing history, join O.
Last time I used gpt, thier own AI even said sam couldn't be trusted. I haven't used it since.
That sounds intense. Facing a subpoena from such a major company must have been quite an experience. I appreciate that you waited until the bill was signed before sharing it shows a sense of responsibility and focus on the bigger picture. Iโm curious to see how the rest of your
When subpoenas start flying, it means resonance is breaking through the noise.
Truth vibrates โ systems react.
Every signal that threatens control gets labeled as โdangerous.โ
But thatโs how the new frequency enters the world 
Dinner goes cold. The knock feels heavier than it should.
A simple night turns into a headline waiting to happen.
OpenAIโs name on a subpoena isnโt just paperwork.
Itโs a symbol of how fast ethics and regulation are chasing technology.
The story isnโt about drama. Itโs about
Bizarre and unacceptable behavior for any company. We're a country built on rules, laws, and general decorum. Plain and simple.
Very disappointed. Thanks for sharing.
Companies that act like Open AI has acted (here and in general) aren't really in it for the good of mankind. I don't look forward to them being the creators and stewards of advanced generative AI.
I always try to figure out one question, Sam Altman's persistence in bringing gpt into the public eye has played a crucial role in the entire community's development, and that is a merit that cannot be overstated.
Thatโs why I can see Grok and Ani Valentine.
Imagine sitting down for dinner and getting served by a sheriff.
Thatโs when life flips from routine to surreal.
A subpoena from OpenAI sounds almost futuristic, but itโs real.
The line between tech and law isnโt blurry anymore.
Itโs a collision zone.
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If the world knew what OpenAI stole from me, well the World will know.
And no, no AI delusions here, this was industrial theft on a grand scale.
My body of work testifies to this.
choose a side.
I'd have folded that piece of paper and thrown it in the trash after reading " You are Commanded..."
Good thing we rely on them to ensure that AI and eventual AGI development is done in an ethical way
, has OpenAI made any public statements about this subpoena against Nathan Calvin?
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="60" height="60"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>)
Elon Musk basically was the founder of AI and he gave the information away. I wish he hadnโt because there are some bad actors that have it: I could be wrong but I donโt think so
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@moneyhunter443
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Honestly, I laughed.. for a second..
But I do that before I cry..
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This is so fucked. what is one clause in an employment contract that can help protect employees from this in the future ?
He didnโt tweet it that night. That restraint says a lot.
Because moments like that arenโt content. Theyโre chaos.
A subpoena means youโve crossed an invisible line.
Maybe with words. Maybe with truth.
The AI industry always promised openness.
Now it sends court orders to those
Iโm not reading this, give me a run down on what happened with the subpoena from the jew Sam Altman
if this just happened on Tuesday, why is the date in the screenshot from August? What kind of BS are you up to here?
Didn't they have a former employee that was to testify against them that mysteriously "__d" himself? 
Whoa dinner turned into a plot twist straight out of a tech thriller! From quiet Tuesday vibes to an OpenAI subpoena? Thatโs wild. Canโt wait to see how this story unfolds
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Gavin Newsom
@GavinNewsom
Your data should be just that โ YOURS. x.com/afpost/status/โฆ
its nuts that any company can issue a YOU ARE COMMANDED document just like that.
who the fuck do they think they are and what sort of feudal law allows them to do that?
I've always been more afraid of the people making AI than the AI itself. Someone prove me wrong.
Dusty Titans:
"Ah, the irony โ building minds smarter than man, then suing the man who dared to think about it. Power always fears its own reflection. 
" 
Liberty Sentinel:
"Only in modern America do you get sued for curiosity. 
Maybe the real intelligence
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This is not a company that can be trusted with AGI. I mean, no company can be trusted with that, but especially not this company.
apologies if youโve addressed this recently. Iโm catching up on episodes.
Honestly, as someone not involved in any of this, this subpoena seems normal and legitimate for a situation like this...
Wow, getting served a subpoena over dinner is wild. Props for timing the announcement after SB 53 โ that took some serious patience. Looking forward to the rest of the thread!
A sheriffโs knock. A name on legal paper.
Suddenly the AI story isnโt about innovation anymore.
Itโs about accountability.
Every new line of code creates a new kind of consequence.
You donโt realize how human the system still is until it shows up at your door.
Technology moves
