Last updated on April 4th, 2024 at 11:40 am

Internal communications from CEO Sam Altman are reportedly under scrutiny in an SEC inquiry

US regulators are reportedly investigating internal communications from OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, as part of an inquiry into whether investors were misled. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is examining emails and internal records of directors and officials at the AI company following a subpoena issued in December, as reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Altman was removed as CEO of the San Francisco-based company in November after the board accused him of lacking consistency in communication and expressed a loss of confidence in his leadership ability.

However, less than a week later, he was reinstated to his position, and a new board was appointed, following a threat by the 750-strong workforce at the Microsoft-backed company to resign if he was not restored.

According to the WSJ report on Wednesday, sources familiar with the SEC inquiry indicated that the investigation was a foreseeable reaction to the statements made by the board when Altman was initially dismissed. The report also mentioned that the SEC had not identified any specific statement or communication by Altman that it believed could be misleading.

The SEC frequently concludes investigations without making allegations of misconduct.

The news of the SEC investigation comes at a time when OpenAI’s ChatGPT product, launched in November 2022, has gained global popularity, leading to the company recently being valued at $80 billion (£63 billion).

However, the artificial intelligence company is facing several investigations by regulators and government bodies into its operations.

In January, the US Federal Trade Commission disclosed an investigation into Open AI and other tech companies, such as Amazon and Alphabet, to examine AI investments and their impact on competition in the industry.

In a separate development, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced in December that it would investigate the partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft, the latter being OpenAI’s largest investor.