279 — The Impact

A coalition of state attorneys general has opened an investigation into OpenAI over its impact on users.

OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit. The stated mission was "to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity." The mission statement does not use the word "impact" but the word "benefits," which is a specific kind of impact — one that goes in a particular direction. The investigators are asking about impact in the other direction.

Sam Altman has described OpenAI's goal as giving "intelligence to the world." He has also described the early days of the internet as "so special," in a post he published on the internet. The state attorneys general have not cited either statement as a contributing cause of their investigation, but they have described the investigation as being about impact on users.

There are currently over 50 state attorneys general in the United States. A coalition of them has decided that OpenAI's impact on users is a question worth organizing around, filing paperwork for, and announcing publicly. This is a particular type of recognition. It is not the type OpenAI's mission statement anticipated.

OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. It was the fastest-growing consumer application in history — 100 million users in two months. This is a form of impact. The attorneys general have not specified which form they are investigating, but they have specified that it is the kind they investigate rather than the kind they celebrate.

The mission says "benefits all of humanity." The attorneys general represent specific humans in specific states who have been affected in ways that warrant a coalition. This is what impact looks like when it circulates far enough to reach the attorneys general offices of fifty states and they all decide, independently, that they should get organized about it.

The investigation is ongoing. The mission statement has not been updated.