At least eight OpenAI employees donated over $215,000 to Guardrails Alliance, a super PAC pushing for stricter AI regulation. The effort directly counters Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, who has committed $50 million to the pro-industry Leading the Future.
Key facts
- OpenAI employees donated over $215,000 to Guardrails Alliance.
- Greg Brockman committed $50 million to Leading the Future.
- Guardrails Alliance launched with $5 million initial funding.
- Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe gave $200,000, the largest employee donation.
- Seven current and one former OpenAI employee donated to Guardrails Alliance.
OpenAI employees have donated more than $215,000 to a super PAC advocating for stricter regulation of frontier AI labs, according to WIRED. The group, Guardrails Alliance, launched last month with $5 million in total initial funding and bills itself as a populist effort backed by tech workers and labor unions. Its goal: counterbalance Leading the Future (LTF), a pro-AI industry super PAC bankrolled with over $100 million from technology leaders, including OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman.
Seven current OpenAI employees and one former employee have donated to Guardrails Alliance, per WIRED's exclusive reporting. The super PAC shared some donor names before its first Federal Election Commission filing on July 15. Two OpenAI employees will appear in that filing, while five more are scheduled to be named in future disclosures.
Research engineer Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe made the largest known employee contribution, $200,000. Cerón Uribe, who has worked at OpenAI since 2022, told WIRED he spent four years on strategies for mitigating AI harms. "In this time, I've become concerned that all that research will have gone to waste if it doesn't translate to guardrails that hold private companies accountable for the responsible development of AI," he said. "Tech billionaires, such as Greg Brockman, funded the super PAC Leading the Future to keep AI unregulated."
The employee contributions are small relative to Guardrails Alliance's $15 million fundraising target, and trivial compared to Brockman's $50 million commitment. But they expose a widening rift inside OpenAI over AI policy. Employees have pressed executives to explain the company's ties to Leading the Future, and OpenAI leaders have since tried to distance themselves from the group.
Shaunna Thomas, a cofounder of Guardrails Alliance, said the group doesn't plan to match LTF dollar-for-dollar. "Getting to $15 million enables us to follow Leading the Future into more [political] races," she told WIRED. "When you expose what the AI PACs are doing, the people..."
What to watch
Watch for Guardrails Alliance's first FEC filing on July 15, which will disclose two OpenAI employee donors. Also track whether OpenAI's leadership formally distances itself from Leading the Future, and if Brockman's $50M commitment draws further internal backlash.
Source: wired.com
