US regulators are reportedly investigating whether the artificial intelligence giant Open AI Investors were misled.
As part of this investigation, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is Checking internal communications by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday (Feb. 28), citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the SEC is seeking internal records from current and former OpenAI executives and directors, and has requested that some of the company’s senior executives preserve internal documents.
The SEC subpoenaed the company in December, the report said. It followed OpenAI’s board Altman was fired as CEO., with directors saying the chief executive was not “consistently clear in his communications”. Altman was reinstated as head of the company under a new board. Five days later.
New York-based SEC officials are investigating and have asked some senior OpenAI officials to preserve internal documents.
The report notes that the SEC prohibits companies from misleading investors, regardless of whether they seek funding in the public or private markets, and that regulators often charge no government fees. Wraps the probe without inserting.
Some WSJ sources described the investigation as a “predictable response” to the “constantly sweeping” allegation in November. And one source said the SEC has not heard any communications from Altman that were misleading.
PYMNTS has reached out to OpenAI for comment but has yet to receive a response. An SEC spokesperson told PYMNTS that the commission does not comment on the “existence or absence” of investigations.
Assuming there is an investigation, it marks the latest in a series of legal and regulatory challenges facing OpenAI, which Recently valued at $80 billion.
For example, the company’s relationship with Microsoft has drawn attention from regulators. UK and Europe. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in December that it wanted to determine whether “recent developments” created a merger and whether the merger could affect competition in the UK. .
OpenAI is also closed in a. A courtroom battle Along with The New York Times, which sued the company and Microsoft in December for copyright infringement, claiming they used material from the newspaper without consent to develop its AI products.
Earlier this week, OpenAI claimed in a court filing that the Times Fraudulent indicators were used. causing the Company’s technology to reproduce the Publisher’s copyrighted material, and thereby violating its Terms of Service;
In an email to PYMNTS, a lawyer for The New York Times called the company’s claims “outlandish.”