Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, is among the many record of individuals set to host a fundraiser for Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who has voted in opposition to most of President Donald Trump’s cupboard nominees.
Different individuals who will be a part of Altman in internet hosting a lunch fundraiser for Warner on March 20 embody, Chris Lehane, a Democrat political marketing consultant, in accordance with an invite to the fundraiser seen by Breitbart Information. In August 2024, the New York Occasions reported that OpenAI had picked Lehane to function the vp of world coverage.
Josh Ackil — who co-founded the Franklin Sq. Group, and has “served within the Clinton White Home as Particular Assistant to the President,” and Matt Tanielian — who additionally co-founded the Franklin Sq. Group, and “served as Counsel” for former Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ), may even host the fundraiser for Warner.
Along with voting in opposition to most of Trump’s cupboard picks, Warner, who serves because the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was one of many elements behind the slow-walking of now-Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s affirmation.
Altman serving as one of many hosts of the fundraiser comes after he and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle Board Chair and CTO Larry Ellison joined Trump on the White Home in January to announce that the boys had been becoming a member of collectively to create an organization named, “Stargate.”
Breitbart Information’s Nick Gilbertson beforehand reported Trump introduced Altman, Ellison, and Son had been creating “the most important AI infrastructure challenge by far in historical past,” including that it could happen in the USA. Trump additionally introduced that Stargate can be investing “$500 billion, no less than, in AI infrastructure” within the U.S.
“I’m thrilled we get to do that in the USA of America. I feel this will probably be a very powerful challenge of this period,” Altman stated, including, “”We wouldn’t be capable of do that with out you, Mr. President and I’m thrilled that we get to. I feel it will likely be an thrilling challenge.”
In response to the announcement of the Stargate Challenge, Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, claimed that the billionaire traders “don’t even have the cash.”
Altman has additionally beforehand said that he has “modified” his perspective on Trump, including that he wished that he “had completed extra” of his “personal pondering.”
As Breitbart Information’s Lucas Nolan beforehand reported, Altman expressing his change in perspective on Trump got here after he had “responded to Musk’s feedback” on the Stargate Challenge, saying that Musk was incorrect.
Altman swiftly responded to Musk’s feedback, stating that the Tesla CEO was “incorrect” and emphasizing the significance of the challenge for the nation. He additionally urged Musk to prioritize the U.S. in his new function, even when it could not at all times align along with his firms’ optimum pursuits. The change escalated additional, with Altman questioning Musk’s character and remedy of OpenAI, whereas Musk resurfaced previous anti-Trump tweets and criticized Altman’s connections to Democrat donor Reid Hoffman. This prompted Altman to publicly state his change of coronary heart about Trump.
Altman and Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, have been engaged in an ongoing feud. In February, Musk “made a $97.4 billion unsolicited supply to accumulate management of OpenAI.” Whereas Musk “expressed his need to see OpenAI return to its roots as an ‘open-source, safety-focused power for good,” Altman rejected this supply and proposed that his firm would purchase X for $9.74 billion.
The Wall Road Journal reported that, in accordance with “conversations with greater than a dozen individuals” who had been “aware of Altman and Musk’s relationship over time,” the 2 males “couldn’t be extra completely different.”
Whereas Musk was crushed up and verbally abused as a toddler, Altman was a trainer’s pet whose mother and father routinely instructed him he could possibly be no matter he wished to be. The place Musk was typically abrasive, Altman tended to inform individuals what they wished to listen to. And whereas Musk is an engineer, steeping himself within the particulars of rocket and battery design, Altman is a technology-obsessed mental, studying extensively throughout philosophy, science and literature and penning essays on how society ought to set up itself.
Altman and Musk met “when Y Combinator associate Geoff Ralson launched them” to one another.
After founding OpenAI in 2015, the connection between Musk and Altman “started to disintegrate in 2017, after OpenAI researchers realized they would want far more cash than a nonprofit might increase to develop superior AI,” in accordance with the outlet.
Musk ended up leaving in 2018, and OpenAI — below the management of Altman, went on to “give attention to analysis” and “launched a brand new product referred to as ChatGPT” in November 2022.
The Wall Road Journal reported that whereas “Musk started publicly criticizing OpenAI for transferring too quick and never taking security significantly,” he ended up launching “his personal for-profit, open-source synthetic intelligence firm, xAI.”
That analysis launch turned out to be some of the profitable and transformative consumer-technology merchandise of the century, within the firm of the iPhone, Fb and TikTok. As shocked as the remainder of the world that AI had gone mainstream and upset that he wasn’t a part of it, Musk started publicly criticizing OpenAI for transferring too quick and never taking security significantly. He signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on AI growth.
Inside a couple of months, Musk launched his personal for-profit, open-source artificial-intelligence firm, xAI, however its expertise and market affect have lagged nicely behind OpenAI. Musk hoped he would develop into a critical rival to Altman, however didn’t even develop into a nuisance.
The fundraiser, which is about to happen in San Francisco, California, represents “Altman’s first recognized hosted political fund-raiser because the 2022 cycle,” in accordance with the New York Occasions.
The outlet famous that Altman has “made some small contributions within the 2024 cycle,” and that he even donated “$1 million” to Trump’s inaugural committee.
Whereas Altman has beforehand donated to Trump’s inaugural committee, a number of board members of OpenAI encompass Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellman, the previous CEO of the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis; and Bret Taylor, the previous chairman of the board of Twitter.
Whereas working at Twitter, now often known as X, Taylor was one of many individuals who banned Trump from the social media platform within the aftermath of January 6, 2021 riot on the Capitol. Twitter claimed that after a “shut evaluate” of a few of Trump’s tweets, that they had “completely suspended the account as a result of danger of additional incitement of violence.”
The social media platform on the time additionally eliminated a video that Trump had posted, calling on supporters of his to “peacefully disperse” and to respect regulation and order.
Taylor, who serves because the chairman for OpenAI’s board issued an announcement in response to Musk’s $97.4 billion supply, stating that “the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s newest try and disrupt his competitors,” in accordance with the New York Occasions.
The New York Submit reported that Taylor was among the many record of former Twitter board members who had donated hundreds to Democrats. Taylor, who additionally serves because the CEO of Salesforce, “donated $713,637” to former President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential marketing campaign.
Desmond-Hellman, who beforehand headed the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis, has additionally beforehand served because the chancellor on the College of California, San Francisco from 2009 to 2014, and because the president of product growth Genentech, Inc., in accordance with her LinkendIn.
In October 2024, the New York Occasions reported that billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Invoice Gates, together with Microsoft, had donated round $50 million to a non-profit group that was supporting former Vice President Kamala Harris’s run for president.
Breitbart Information’s Joel Pollak reported in January that the “Committee to Shield Well being Care,” which was opposing the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. because the Secretary of Well being and Human Providers, had issued a letter in opposition to Kennedy Jr. with pretend signatures. The committee turned out to be a “Gates-baked ‘Astroturf’ group.”
The Committee to Shield Well being Care is a 501(c)4 group, that means that it doesn’t must reveal its donors.
Nevertheless, a associated 501(c)3 charity, The Committee to Shield Well being Care Fund, does must reveal its donors. It’s funded partly by the “left-of-center Sixteen Thirty Fund (1630 Fund) and Hopewell Fund.” The Hopewell Fund, in flip, has “employed Arabella Advisors, a number one nationwide philanthropy providers agency, to handle its challenge internet hosting and monetary sponsorship providers.” The Sixteen Thirty Fund is likewise managed by the Arabella Advisors group.
Among the many record of donors to Arabella are, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, liberal megadonor George Soros, and Gates, in accordance with Capital Analysis.
The Gates Basis has additionally been reported to have donated to A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction, which consists of “a bunch of 25 schooling organizations whose curriculum states that asking college students to point out their work and discover the precise reply is an inherently racist follow,” in accordance with the Washington Free Beacon.
Breitbart Information reported in Might 2022, that the Gates Basis had poured hundreds of thousands of {dollars} int0 11 out of 26 organizations “that signed an open letter” calling for Twitter advertisers to boycott the social media platform if Musk restored “free speech.”