An odd coalition that includes the mother of a deceased former OpenAI researcher is pushing a California ballot initiative to stymie the organization’s conversion to a for-profit company.
A group calling itself the Coalition for AI Nonprofit Integrity, or CANI, is backing the initiative, which would create an oversight board to review — and possibly reverse — the for-profit conversion of any California charitable research organization that was initiated after January 2024. The bill does not mention OpenAI by name, but it is clear that the ChatGPT developer is its focus.
The paperwork for the initiative was filed by Poornima Rao, mother of Suchir Balaji, a onetime OpenAI researcher who was found dead in November 2024, shortly after speaking to The New York Times about what he claimed were illegal activities at the company.
The San Francisco medical examiner ruled Balaji’s death a suicide, but Rao continues to insist that OpenAI was involved and to push for the investigation to be reopened.
Rao told The Standard she started working with CANI shortly after Balaji’s death to continue his whistleblowing mission and “chose to be the one who started the ballot initiative in honor of my son.”
She added that she worried that allowing OpenAI to become a for-profit entity would enrich CEO Sam Altman and his investors at the expense of working-class people.
“The only thing we can do now is let people know that their future is at risk and let voters decide the direction of these AI...
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