Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI

OpenAI hasn’t been shy about spending money lobbying for favorable laws and regulations. But when it comes to its involvement with child safety advocacy groups, the company has apparently decided it’s best to stay in the shadows—even if it means hiding from the people actually pushing for policy changes. According to a report from the San Francisco Standard, a number of people involved in the California-based Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition were blindsided to learn their efforts were secretly being funded by OpenAI.

Per the Standard, the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition was a group formed to push the Parents and Kids Safe AI Act, a piece of California legislation proposed earlier this year that would require AI firms to implement age verification and additional safeguards for users under the age of 18. That bill was backed by OpenAI in partnership with Common Sense Media, which proposed the legislation as a compromise after the two groups had pushed dueling ballot initiatives last year.

But when the coalition started to reach out to child safety groups and other advocacy organizations to try to get them to lend support to the bill, OpenAI was apparently conveniently left off the messaging. The AI giant was also left out of the marketing on the coalition’s website, according to the Standard. That reportedly led to a number of groups and individuals lending their support to the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition without realizing that they were aligning themselves with OpenAI.

As it turns out, OpenAI isn’t just one of the members of the coalition; it is the group’s biggest funder. In fact, the Standard characterized the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition as being “entirely funded” by OpenAI. While it’s not clear exactly how much the company has funneled to this particular group, a Wall Street Journal report from January said OpenAI pledged $10 million to push the Parents and Kids Safe AI Act.

“It’s a very grimy feeling,” an unnamed nonprofit leader told the Standard. “To find out they’re trying to sneak around behind the scenes and do something like this — I don’t want to say they’re outright lying, but they’re sending emails that are pretty misleading.”

Gizmodo reached out to OpenAI for comment on its involvement in the Parents and Kids Safe AI Coalition but did not hear back at the time of publication.

Potentially even more grimy is the fact that OpenAI’s backing of this bill could be self-serving for CEO Sam Altman. At the core of the proposed legislation are age assurance requirements, and wouldn’t you know it, but Altman happens to head a company that provides age verification services. Probably a coincidence.