U.S. SEC investigates whether OpenAI investors were misled, WSJ reports By Reuters

© Reuters. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 18, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo

(Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is closely examining the internal communications of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday.

Regulators are seeking internal records from current and former OpenAI officials and directors and sent a subpoena to the company in December, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Appointed a CEO and ousted him from the board.

Altman was fired last November after the board “concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, thereby impeding the board’s ability to carry out its responsibilities,” OpenAI said in a blog post at the time. Altman was reinstated a few days later.

The investigation was described in a November statement as a predictable response to claims by the former OpenAI board member, the WSJ report said. One person told WSJ that the SEC did not point out specific statements or communications from Altman that it deemed misleading.

OpenAI, the SEC and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.