A group of Democrat and Independent senators are pressuring the company that makes ChatGPT to promise the government pre-deployment access to any future model.

Pro-censorship Democrat lawmakers have found yet another angle for government-tech collusion and interference, according to a July 22 letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Besides insisting upon extensive information about the artificial intelligence (AI) company’s safety features and policies, the senators asked for privileged government access to review and assess a potential future model.

The letter focused on alleged safety concerns and the company's employment practices. The senators then included a lengthy list of questions largely related to OpenAI’s safety policies and employees’ ability to sound the alarm about safety concerns.

In a somewhat lengthy list of questions about OpenAI’s safety policies and practices, the senators pressed: “Will OpenAI commit to making its next foundation model available to U.S. Government agencies for a pre-deployment testing, review, analysis, and assessment?” This bold question seems to indicate a new method of government-tech collusion may be on the rise. In the past, such collusion has led to a vast censorship industrial complex. 

But even before senators asked for a first look at OpenAI’s technology, they reminded the company of their pre-existing partnership.“OpenAI is now partnering with the U.S. government and national security and defense agencies to develop cybersecurity tools to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure.” 

Other questions asked in the letter included requests about penalizing concerned employees who raise issues, a Supplier Code of Conduct and post-release AI monitoring practices. 

The senators who signed the letter include Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Peter Welch (D-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Angus S. King (I-ME; previously D). 

Significantly, Warner pressured Big Tech to crackdown on supposed “Russia-linked” content in 2017 and again in 2022. Luján co-sponsored2021 legislation to revoke liability protections for tech companies if alleged “health misinformation” was algorithmically amplified by the platform during a health crisis.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.