June 6, 2024, 5:34 p.m.
In November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, kicking off the current artificial-intelligence revolution and launching both the company and CEO Sam Altman into stardom. Already celebrated by the tech community, the young CEO gained fans on Capitol Hill when he asked for his company and the new technology to be strictly regulated.
On Wednesday, Altman got his wish—and then some. The New York Times reported that the Federal Trade Commission has cleared the way to investigate OpenAI and its main partner Microsoft for possible antitrust violations. The investigation is part of a bigger antitrust probe into the meteoric rise of AI-related companies. While the FTC looks into OpenAI and Microsoft, the Justice Department will investigate the dealings of Nvidia, the primary manufacturer of AI semiconductor chips.
For Altman and OpenAI, the investigation is just the latest plunge in a larger fall from grace that took the company from being seen as a shiny beacon of ethical technological progress to an example of all of Silicon Valley’s ills.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to researching safe AI for the betterment of humanity. Only later did Altman launch the for-profit subsidiary that released ChatGPT. But even after profit entered the equation, OpenAI maintained that safety and improving humanity was its main goal. Though OpenAI’s developers were handsomely compensated, Altman himself took a salary of just $65,000 a year.
But cracks started to show in November 2023, when OpenAI’s board removed Altman as CEO over fears that he was pushing too quickly and not taking safety seriously. At Microsoft’s urging, the board reinstated Altman just five days later. Board members who led the ouster effort soon left, replaced by leaders more friendly to Microsoft and the for-profit side of the business.
More safety fears flared in May, when OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever announced that he would leave the company along with AI safety researcher Jan Leike, saying that “safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.” Soon after, OpenAI dissolved its team focused on the long-term risks of the technology.
OpenAI’s board has since set up a new safety and security committee run by Altman, The Verge reported.
As for the regulation that Altman has called for? Well, the tech industry seems to like the idea of regulation more than the practice of it. Tech leaders have mobilized lobbyists to fight specific pieces of federal legislation, including any measures that hold AI developers liable for the misuse of their technology.
Even Altman’s humble salary is belied by his $2.8 billion worth of investments into tech start-ups and companies, many of which have direct ties to OpenAI, The Wall Street Journal reported.
OpenAI is far from the first Silicon Valley company to start with a noble goal that slowly gets pushed aside when it becomes clear just how much money it can make. But what has happened at the company over the past year should be a warning sign to lawmakers not always to trust tech CEOs bearing gifts—or asking to be regulated.
Editor’s Note: This story was adapted from PolicyView: AI, National Journal’s new biweekly publication tracking the federal and state AI landscape—from regulation and legislation to media monitoring and stakeholder identification. Click here to learn more and see the latest issue.
Interior Department announces $700M investment in water-conservation projects
The Interior Department will allocate $700 million to fund infrastructure improvements and water-conservation projects in the Lower Colorado River Basin, which is suffering historic drought conditions, according to a Thursday release.
The move, part of the Biden administration’s Investing in America Agenda, will fund infrastructure and efficiency improvements such as canal lining, groundwater banking, and water purification to improve resilience to drought and climate change in the Lower Colorado River Basin. The basin has experienced drought since 2000, with reservoir storage levels declining from nearly full to about half capacity.
DOI claims that the funding could save more than 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead. one of the basin’s two largest reservoirs. Lake Mead recorded its lowest elevation in July 2022, though its conditions have slowly improved since.
The funding for the conservation project comes from the Lower Colorado Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program, established through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
The Bureau of Reclamation will collaborate with corresponding state and tribal leaders and individual stakeholders in Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California to allocate the funds to projects. In April, the Interior Department announced a $29.7 million investment in the Upper Colorado River Basin, which spans Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
HHS adds 10 states to model program for behavioral-health clinics
Ten states are joining a behavioral health care demonstration through Medicaid to assist patients suffering from substance-abuse or mental health issues, the Health and Human Services Department announced this week.
Under the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Medicaid Demonstration Program, the federal government pays a greater share of Medicaid expenses for services provided by these clinics, and the facilities receive greater payment rates. Eight states currently participate in the program, according to HHS.
The department said 10 more states have built up the infrastructure to join the demonstration: Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
“With sustainable funding, CCBHCs in participating states will now be able to connect more people to the care they need,” HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm said in a statement Tuesday.
The addition comes after the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act gave HHS the authority to add 10 more states every two years.
“Our mental health and substance use disorder initiative is a proven success story and is transforming community services across our country,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who helped create CCBHCs, said in a statement. “Our clinics are successfully working with law enforcement to get people the care they need rather than having them just sit in jail.”
There are many other CCBHCs that are funded either through other Medicaid authorities or through grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, according to a new analysis from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
The report released this week estimated that the 495 CCBHCs across 46 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico served 3 million people. Many clinics increased the numbers they served among children, the uninsured, and people without a prior outpatient source.
The National Council for Mental Wellbeing is backing bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate that would permanently authorize Medicaid payments for the CCBHC model, create a prospective payment system under Medicare to serve older adults, and authorize grants to expand care.
