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The fallout over OpenAI’s Pentagon deal is growing

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Many other OpenAI staffers have also publicly criticized the company’s Pentagon deal.

“i personally don’t think this deal was worth it,” Aidan McLaughlin, a research scientist at OpenAI, wrote on X.

Another employee told CNN that many of them “really respect” Anthropic for refusing the Pentagon’s deal.

Clive Chan, a technical staffer, wrote in an X post that he believed OpenAI’s contract barred the use of its models for mass weapons or mass domestic surveillance. Chan wrote that he’s advocating for the company to share more information.

“If we later learn this is not the case, then I will advocate internally to terminate the contract,” Chan wrote.

Even before the deal, nearly 900 former and current OpenAI and Google staffers signed a joint petition supporting Anthropic, one of their primary competitors, and opposing the use of their companies’ technology for weapons that can kill without human oversight and mass surveillance.

“The Pentagon is negotiating with Google and OpenAI to try to get them to agree to what Anthropic has refused,” the petition said.




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The fallout over OpenAI’s Pentagon deal is growing

by with No Comment Xpandfy

Many other OpenAI staffers have also publicly criticized the company’s Pentagon deal.

“i personally don’t think this deal was worth it,” Aidan McLaughlin, a research scientist at OpenAI, wrote on X.

Another employee told CNN that many of them “really respect” Anthropic for refusing the Pentagon’s deal.

Clive Chan, a technical staffer, wrote in an X post that he believed OpenAI’s contract barred the use of its models for mass weapons or mass domestic surveillance. Chan wrote that he’s advocating for the company to share more information.

“If we later learn this is not the case, then I will advocate internally to terminate the contract,” Chan wrote.

Even before the deal, nearly 900 former and current OpenAI and Google staffers signed a joint petition supporting Anthropic, one of their primary competitors, and opposing the use of their companies’ technology for weapons that can kill without human oversight and mass surveillance.

“The Pentagon is negotiating with Google and OpenAI to try to get them to agree to what Anthropic has refused,” the petition said.




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Read the memo: Talent agent Casey Wasserman tells staff he’s selling his company after Epstein files fallout

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Casey Wasserman is selling his high-profile sports marketing and talent agency after his correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell surfaced in the Epstein files.

The entertainment executive informed the Wasserman Group’s 4,000 staffers about the sale in a memo on Friday.

“At this moment, I believe that I have become a distraction to those efforts,” he wrote. “That is why I have begun the process of selling the company, an effort that is already underway.”

In January, the Justice Department began to release more than 3 million pages of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

The names of numerous prominent people, such as Bill Gates and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, have shown up in the documents. While appearing in the files does not mean a person is associated with Epstein’s crimes, some have nonetheless faced a public fallout by association.

In Wasserman’s case, the documents revealed that the entertainment mogul flew on Epstein’s jet with several people, including former US President Bill Clinton. He also exchanged emails with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking girls for Epstein. Wasserman’s emails with Maxwell were dated 2003, long before police began to investigate Epstein and over a decade before police arrested Maxwell.

Wasserman issued an apology following the revelations, but a backlash from his roster of top talent had already begun. Singer Chappell Roan, Olympian Abby Wambach, and others said they intended to leave his agency over his association with Epstein.

“It was years before their criminal conduct came to light, and, in its entirety, consisted of one humanitarian trip to Africa and a handful of emails that I deeply regret sending,” Wasserman wrote in the memo to staff on Friday. “And I’m heartbroken that my brief contact with them 23 years ago has caused you, this company, and its clients so much hardship over the past days and weeks.”

Read the full memo Wasserman sent to his employees:

Team:
I wanted to write to you all directly to share a few important updates. Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken to many of you directly — and I wish I could have spoken with every one of you because you all have put your hearts and souls into this incredible organization.
First and foremost, I want to apologize to you. I’m deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to the clients and partners we represent so vigorously and care so deeply about.
The pain experienced by the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell is unimaginable – and I’m glad, as I’m sure you all are, that those who helped them commit their crimes are rightly being held accountable.
Hopefully by now you know the facts about my limited interactions with those two individuals. It was years before their criminal conduct came to light, and, in its entirety, consisted of one humanitarian trip to Africa and a handful of emails that I deeply regret sending. And I’m heartbroken that my brief contact with them 23 years ago has caused you, this company, and its clients so much hardship over the past days and weeks.
Other than my children and my fiancée, there are two things that matter most to me in this world: this company that I founded 24 years ago, and the dream I’ve pursued for more than a decade of bringing the Olympic Games back to the city I love.
This organization, its leadership and the entire team mean the world to me. Our 4,000 employees are the absolute best in the business. I see you put it all on the line for your clients every day. Our clients expect — and deserve — world-class representation. And that’s exactly what they get because of all of you.
At this moment, I believe that I have become a distraction to those efforts. That is why I have begun the process of selling the company, an effort that is already underway. During this time, Mike Watts will assume day-to-day control of the business while I devote my full attention to delivering Los Angeles an Olympic Games in 2028 that is worthy of this outstanding city.
I so appreciate the passion and fight you bring to your jobs. It’s why you succeed.
I am beyond proud of what this company has accomplished to date and excited to watch its next chapter.
All my best,
Casey




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Goldman’s CEO David Solomon says he ‘reluctantly’ let top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler resign after Epstein fallout

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Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon addressed the complicated situation the firm faced this week as its general counsel and chief legal officer, Kathy Ruemmler, dominated headlines for her past connections and thousands of emails with disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She is now set to step down this summer.

Ruemmler submitted her resignation on Thursday, which Solomon said he reluctantly accepted as the media storm grew about a variety of her contacts with Epstein and his lavish gifts to her, all of which transpired before she joined Goldman as its top legal official in 2020.

“She called me yesterday afternoon and told me that the press coverage of the work she had done previously and of this whole situation had just gotten to a level of noise and distraction that she thought it was distracting the firm,” Solomon told CNBC during a live interview on Friday. He added that he had “reluctantly accepted her resignation, but I respect her decision, and she and the firm are looking forward.”

“It was putting her in a position where it was hard for her to execute on her job and her responsibilities,” Solomon said, “and she just thought it was time to step away.”

The CEO said said that Ruemmler’s connections with Epstein predated her time at the Wall Street bank, but acknowledged the complexity the situation presented for the firm’s top leadership. Previously, Ruemmler was a member of President Barack Obama’s White House counsel, advising him on matters related to foreign policy and national security, and later served as a partner at the elite law firm Latham & Watkins before joining Goldman.

“As a CEO and a leadership team, we’re making real-time decisions with a very valued colleague that we worked with very closely, and that’s not an easy thing to work through. There is a lot of nuance to that.” He added that he was “proud of the way Kathy has handled herself and the way we’ve worked through this.”

And he added that Goldman wasn’t the only large organization facing the fallout of high-powered individuals’ apparent connections to Epstein, who died in 2019 but whose legacy has continued to cast a pall over large segments of the corporate sector.

“A lot of people are trying to work through it,” Solomon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin when pressed for more detail on how the decision came about. He praised Ruemmler’s contributions, calling her “a tremendous human being” who had served as an “extraordinary general counsel with deep, deep experience” for the banking institution.

Ruemmler’s last day at Goldman is set to be June 30, the bank said.

Last month, Goldman representative Tony Fratto said in a statement that it is “well known that Epstein often offered unsolicited favors and gifts to his many business contacts.”

“As Kathy has said many times, she had a professional association with Jeffrey Epstein when she was a lawyer in private practice, heading the defense and investigations practice at a global law firm,” the statement said. “She regrets ever knowing him.”




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Brad Karp resigns from the Union College board after Epstein files fallout

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  • Brad Karp has resigned from Union College’s board of trustees.
  • This news comes after Karp’s resignation as chairman of Big Law firm Paul Weiss earlier this month.
  • Karp is one of the elite names that appear in the Epstein files.

Top US lawyer Brad Karp has resigned from Union College’s board of trustees as he faces scrutiny from his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Karp has been removed from the list of trustees on his alma mater’s website, from which he graduated in 1981.

Union College’s board chair Julie Greifer Swidler could not be reached for immediate comment. In a statement to local media, Greifer Swidler said Karp had resigned from the board.

“The Board of Trustees and College leadership look forward to continuing our efforts to prepare our outstanding students to lead with wisdom, empathy and courage, while ensuring that Union thrives for decades to come,” she said.

Karp’s departure from the board follows his resignation as chairman of the Big Law firm Paul Weiss last week.

Karp is among the names to appear in 3 million documents released by the Justice Department from its investigation into Epstein.

“Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm,” Karp said in a statement in Paul Weiss’ news release announcing the news.

This story is developing. Please check back fror updates.




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