Overview
- Encode general counsel Nathan Calvin says a sheriff’s deputy served him an OpenAI subpoena at his home in August seeking private messages with California legislators, students, and former employees.
- Calvin says the subpoena demanded all communications related to SB 53, asserts Encode is not funded by Elon Musk, and confirms the group declined to produce documents.
- OpenAI points to a statement from its chief strategy officer that the discovery aimed to understand whether critics or groups backing Musk’s legal challenge were supported by outside funders.
- AI watchdog founder Tyler Johnston reports receiving a similarly broad subpoena requesting a list of every journalist, congressional office, partner, former employee, and member of the public his group contacted about OpenAI’s restructuring, and current and former OpenAI figures publicly criticized the tactics.
- During SB 53 negotiations, OpenAI urged California officials to deem companies compliant if they had federal safety agreements or joined international frameworks, a carve‑out critics say would have narrowed the law’s reach.