Staff Reports
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and the architect behind ChatGPT, is trading his AI accolades for political endorsements, as he gears up to co-host a fundraiser for none other than Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia. This comes as no surprise, given Warner’s penchant for voting against most of President Donald Trump’s cabinet choices. Altman, apparently looking to curry favor with the political elite, will share this lunch event stage on March 20 with a motley crew of leftist donors, including political consultant Chris Lehane, who’s been coddling the Democratic agenda for quite some time.
The lineup doesn’t end there. Joining Altman is Josh Ackil, a veteran of the Clinton White House, and Matt Tanielian, who once served as counsel for the infamous ex-Senator Robert Torricelli. Together, they represent a veritable “who’s who” of Democratic operatives whose resumes read like a love letter to the party’s ideological victories. Warner, who rubs shoulders with the likes of Ackil and Tanielian, has fanned the flames of political delay tactics against Trump’s nominations, making him an exemplary figure for this gathering of “progressive minds,” if one can call them that.
Interestingly, this doesn’t seem to ring true for Altman, who, shortly before cozying up with Warner, had been photographed with Trump revealing a project dubbed “Stargate.” This ambitious undertaking promises to be the largest AI infrastructure scheme in history, pledging a whopping $500 billion investment in American innovation. So, what’s a tech CEO to do? Balance between the feisty world of Silicon Valley and the warmly lit halls of Democratic fundraisers must be a perfect circus act for Altman. That balanced diet of mega-buck constituents might fill the coffers but raises more than a few eyebrows about his loyalties.
While Altman seems to have had a casual change of heart regarding Trump, his former buddy Elon Musk hasn’t been shy about challenging him. Musk questioned the financial muscle behind the Stargate Project, suggesting the big money is more mirage than reality. This has led to an ongoing feud reminiscent of a soap opera: Altman positioning himself as the benevolent AI king, and Musk as the skeptical engineer. It makes for some entertaining, albeit tedious, back-and-forth drama about tech, money, and who gets to rule the AI kingdom.
As Altman mingles with the Washington elite, it’s hard not to notice the stark contrast in the backgrounds of those at the event. While Altman and his cadre have backgrounds steeped in academia and leisure, Warner is more of an old-school politician with ties that string back to the traditional power dynamics of the Democratic party. This is the perfect recipe for blending unchallenged liberalism with the funding smarts of tech, overshadowing any lingering claims OpenAI might cling to about being an unbiased champion of innovation. Given Altman’s new-found political alliances and the questionable backgrounds of his OpenAI board members, including those who’ve actively worked against Trump, one can’t help but wonder if this tech firm under Altman is steering toward a future more aligned with the left than it is with the domain of fair, open-source AI development.
