Chris Painter, President of the nonprofit Model Evaluation and Threat Research (METR), confirmed the organization does not accept funding from frontier AI companies or their employees to maintain independence while assessing risks of uncontrolled AI. Since 2022, METR has collaborated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta, and Amazon to conduct third-party evaluations using only free model access and diverse donor support, aiming to disclose internal evidence to the public and government if AI becomes unmanageable. Painter noted that METR's reports highlight both rapid capability improvements and instances where AI capabilities have been exaggerated. Despite operating under non-disclosure agreements, the organization strives to retain public contract terms and conflict of interest disclosures. Painter emphasized that current third-party evaluations remain voluntary collaborations with limited oversight capabilities.