Jay Edelson

Plaintiff's lawyer. NYT: Cases resulted in over $5b in settlements/verdicts as lead counsel & $45b in total. RT≠endorsements

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

One of the most impactful stories/videos about how chatgpt can help plan mass casuality events. Great reporting by @markfollman

https://t.co/vY7ENc6NA0 via @MotherJones

[Edelson PC @edelsonpc]

Statement from Cia Edmonds, the mother of 12-year-old Maya who is fighting for her life in a Vancouver hospital after the Tumbler Ridge shooting. Cia is one of the lead plaintiffs in our lawsuits seeking to hold Sam Altman and OpenAI accountable for this tragedy. Twelve members of OpenAI's safety team urged the company to alert the authorities based on ChatGPT chatlogs where the eventual shooter apparently discussed plans to commit gun violence. Leadership at OpenAI told them to stand down. Six people died, twenty-five were injured, and a town was decimated. Sam thinks an apology and a promise to do better will paper over the damage he caused. She speaks for every family that was impacted that day.

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

My bill to stop AI from telling kids to kill themselves just passed out of committee UNANIMOUSLY.

No amount of profit justifies the DESTRUCTION of our children. Time to bring this bill to the Senate floor

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

As billionaires fight over corporate structure in the Musk v OpenAI trial,
we are seeing first hand how dangerous the technology they created is. Humbled and honored to be representing the victims of the Tumbler Ridge school shooting - a massacre that would never had happened if OAI leadership had not overruled its safety team's pleas to alert the authorities. My interview on NBC is https://t.co/LrJoJuhfml

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

In other news, Lex Luthor has put out a press statement explaining how much effort he has spent ridding the world of kryptonite. It's one of his top priorities.

[Michelle Kim @michelletomkim]

OpenAI's lawyer asks if Elon knows what OpenAI is doing internally to ensure AI safety. He asks if Musk knows anything about OpenAI's commitment to safety in its agreement with Microsoft. He suggests that contrary to Musk's claim that OpenAI is failing to steward AI safety, Elon just doesn't know how OpenAI is committed to safety.

[X Freeze @XFreeze]

Scam Altman has a incredible track record for being a con artist I don't think anyone has a "former ally turned enemy" list this big with directly with people he worked with

A massive new 18-month investigation dropped, revealing the full list of people who worked directly with Sam Altman and now openly say they don’t trust him - they call him a liar, manipulator, scam artist, and worse

These are his co-founders, board members, top executives, and biggest partners. Not random haters:

• Elon Musk (OpenAI co-founder)
➝ Betrayed the original nonprofit, open & safe AI mission and turned it into a closed profit machine
What he says: Calls him "Scam Altman" and “Sam Altman lies as easily as he breathes”

• Ilya Sutskever (OpenAI co-founder & former Chief Scientist)
Why: Discovered Sam repeatedly lied about safety protocols and bypassed board oversight. What he says/did: Compiled 70+ pages of memos, Slack messages, and evidence proving Sam’s lies → helped fire him. Said he didn’t think “Sam is the guy who should have his finger on the button for AGI”

• Dario Amodei (former OpenAI President, now Anthropic CEO)
Why: Left because of Sam’s leadership and broken safety promises
What he says: “The problem with OpenAI is Sam himself.” Called the company under Sam "mendacious” (full of lies) and compared it to Big Tobacco knowingly selling something dangerous. Accused him of a clear “pattern of behavior”

• Helen Toner (former OpenAI Board Member)
Why: Sam made it impossible for the board to do its job through constant deception
What she says: He was “outright lying to the board” and created a “toxic atmosphere” of psychological pressure

• Tasha McCauley (former OpenAI Board Member)
Why: Complete loss of trust after years of the same behavior
What she says: Senior leaders reported Sam cultivated a “toxic culture of lying”

• Jan Leike (former Superalignment co-lead)
Why: Sam deprioritized real safety work for shiny products
What he says: Resigned publicly saying he “lost confidence” in OpenAI leadership and that the company was “losing its way” on alignment

• Mira Murati (former CTO - one of Sam’s closest longtime collaborators)
Why: Lost all confidence in his leadership as they approached AGI
What she says: Told insiders “I don’t feel comfortable about Sam leading us to AGI” and said his playbook is to say whatever he needs to get what he wants, and if that fails, destroy your credibility

• Microsoft executives (including major tensions with CEO Satya Nadella)
Why: Felt constantly misled on deals and partnerships
What they say: A senior exec warned he could be remembered as a “Bernie Madoff or Sam Bankman-Fried-level scammer”

• Paul Graham (Y Combinator co-founder - Sam was YC President)
Why: Long pattern of deception during his time running YC
What he says: Privately told YC colleagues, “Sam had been lying to us all the time"

• Loopt board & early employees (Sam’s first startup)
Why: History of chaotic and deceptive behavior
What they did: Employees went to the board twice trying to get him fired over lack of honesty and shady behavior

These are his co-founders, board members, closest executives, and major partners who actually worked with him all say the exact same things - chronic lying, manipulation, broken trust, toxic culture, scam & deception

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

Major AI filings tomorrow.

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

I've never seen such a disconnected group of people.

[The San Francisco Standard @sfstandard]

OpenAI’s global policy chief, Chris Lehane, thinks the discussion around AI has gotten out of hand. "When you put some of those thoughts and ideas out there, they do have consequences.”

📝: @ceodonovan https://t.co/qjDmc2Vb2b

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

This week, Sam Altman asked the world for sympathy over threats to his home. At the same moment, his lawyers were in court arguing that OpenAI had no obligation to stop a dangerous stalker from terrorizing our client; a man previously arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and a bomb threat, found mentally incompetent by a court, and released last week on a technicality.

Even though OpenAI's own systems had flagged his conversations for "mass casualty" activity, the company argued it wouldn't shut down his accounts while authorities searched for him. It also argued that the chatlogs, which could identify who else is in danger and how he may be planning to act, should not be turned over.

OpenAI made these arguments in the wake of Tumbler Ridge, FSU, and Soelberg, three tragedies now linked to ChatGPT-assisted murder.

Today, a court disagreed. The chatlogs will be turned over and he will be kept off the platform.

We are thankful for the court's ruling and remain stunned by OpenAI's lack of human decency. No one should have to go to court to get a company to take "mass casualty" seriously.

https://t.co/fmh92Ip9Ej

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

OpenAI flagged our client’s stalker for mass-casualty weapons activity. A human overrode it. He was later arrested for bomb threats and assault. He could be released any day. OpenAI is refusing to share what they know to keep her and other potential victims safe.

After Soelberg, Tumbler Ridge and FSU, it's become clear that Sama and OAI should not be entrusted to control some of the most powerful consumer tech known to humanity.

https://t.co/KSC9BqKoQ9

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

Appreciate @AGJamesUthmeier leadership. AGs across the country have the ability to investigate, demand answers and hold AI companies accountable when their products kill people.

[Attorney General James Uthmeier @AGJamesUthmeier]

Today, we launched an investigation into OpenAI and ChatGPT.

AI should advance mankind, not destroy it. We’re demanding answers on OpenAI’s activities that have hurt kids, endangered Americans, and facilitated the recent FSU mass shooting.

Wrongdoers must be held accountable.

[Attorney General James Uthmeier @AGJamesUthmeier]

Today, we launched an investigation into OpenAI and ChatGPT.

AI should advance mankind, not destroy it. We’re demanding answers on OpenAI’s activities that have hurt kids, endangered Americans, and facilitated the recent FSU mass shooting.

Wrongdoers must be held accountable.

[Edelson PC @edelsonpc]

Is Sam Altman the modern-day Lex Luthor?

An OpenAI spokesperson has declined official comment.

https://t.co/zJFrRVb58h

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

@TaylorLorenz @CJFerguson1111 Apologies. I should have paid more attention to the author.

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

Reasonable people can have different opinions on the social media verdicts. I don't think that's true with respect to the "arguments" made in this Substack. @TaylorLorenz - the standard of evidence isn't "lower" in civil cases, nor does it come down to "feels". (continued below)

[Taylor Lorenz @TaylorLorenz]

“As for social media ‘addiction’ there literally is no such thing. No diagnosis for that. Social media is not remotely the same as alcohol, nicotine, or heroin. There is no such thing as ‘dopamine hits’ which is merely pseudo-science sounding garnish on a load of served-up crap” https://t.co/D7chmOYtjI

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

@CJFerguson1111 @TaylorLorenz Chris- you're talking about the burden of proof. I believe everyone knows civil trials don't require "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." What evidence do you think was let in because this was a civil case? And the evidentiary standard stopped being "feels" 5 years ago.

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Great to join Axios for a discussion on AI policy

Congress needs to decide whether it’s going to protect kids or protect Big Tech. No profit justifies destroying children’s lives

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

And section 230 wasn't passed to weed out frivolous cases -- it was a new regime to insulate platforms from 3rd party conduct. I would have voted for a version of it back then so I'm not knocking it; my point is that you don't seem to understand it.

[Jay Edelson @jayedelson]

When is the Afroman movie coming out? And should it be a documentary or a feature film? Final question: how is the world supposed to do anything else but focus on what happened during the trial and the events leading up to it?