OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has pushed back against a Senate investigation into his $1 million donation to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.
Altman questioned the scrutiny in a post on . “The funny thing is, they didn’t send me one of these because I donated to the Democratic Party,” he said.
Funny, they never sent me one of these for contributing to the Democratic Party… pic.twitter.com/xjpanXSb5D
— Sam Altman (@sama) January 17, 2025
Altman, who announced his donation in December, explained his reasons in an interview with Fox News, saying he was “enthusiastic to support” Donald Trump’s efforts to lead the country into an artificial intelligence future. However, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennet have expressed concern that Sam Altman’s donations will be used by others, especially as OpenAI faces investigations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission. along with donations from tech giants said it was aimed at reducing oversight and limiting regulation. (SEC).
The letter, dated Jan. 17, cited a pattern of multimillion-dollar donations from tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Uber. The senators noted that these companies, including OpenAI, are currently under federal investigation for antitrust and consumer protection violations. They expressed concern that these donations were aimed at swaying Trump’s policies in favor of Big Tech and could lead to less regulatory action in the future.
The investigation also raised questions about the influence of corporate money on the Trump administration and the potential corruption risks involved. Sens. Warren and Bennet asked Altman to answer a series of questions by January 31, including details about when and how OpenAI decided to contribute to the founding fund.
Altman said in a subsequent post that the donation was “personal” and that OpenAI, which he leads, was not involved in the decision. “As you state, this was a private donation. I am confused by the question, given that my company did not make the decision,” he wrote.
As you state, it was a personal contribution. I’m confused by the question considering my company hasn’t made a decision.
— Sam Altman (@sama) January 17, 2025
Other technology leaders supporting Donald Trump include Tesla’s Elon Musk, Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale, venture capitalist David Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz’s Ben Andreessen and Marc Andreessen, Includes Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss.
