OpenAI president Greg Brockman just ignited a firestorm inside the company that created ChatGPT. In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Brockman defended his multimillion-dollar donations to Donald Trump's political campaigns, claiming they support OpenAI's mission to benefit humanity. But employees aren't buying it, and the controversy raises urgent questions about whether AI leadership's political allegiances could shape the technology defining our future.
OpenAI president Greg Brockman is defending a decision that's tearing through the company's ranks like wildfire. The executive, who co-founded the AI powerhouse alongside Sam Altman, confirmed to WIRED that he's donated millions to Donald Trump's political operations, and he's not backing down from the move despite vocal opposition from employees who see it as fundamentally at odds with the company's stated mission.
"These donations support OpenAI's mission," Brockman told WIRED in the interview, though he acknowledged that "some employees at the company disagree." That's putting it mildly. According to sources familiar with internal discussions, the revelation has triggered heated debates on company Slack channels and prompted some staff to question whether leadership's political activities could influence the development of artificial general intelligence.
The timing couldn't be more fraught for OpenAI. The company is navigating a complex transformation from its nonprofit roots to a for-profit structure, recently completing funding rounds that valued it north of $150 billion. Microsoft remains a major investor and partner, while competitors like Google, Meta, and Anthropic race to close the gap in large language model capabilities.
