The creator of the well known METR time horizon graph was recently poached by OpenAI [1], there exists intellectual/social/financial overlap between the SV AI Labs and METR, and METR needs to maintain good relations with the labs to continue these sort of collaborations so it doesn't seem too far fetched to believe their relationship may be closer to symbiotic than adversarial.

I wouldn't go quite so far personally based on available evidence, but that sort of arms-length credibility laundering through "independent" research non-profits is/was common in fossil fuel industry, Big Tobacco, etc.

[1] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Zr37dY5YPRT6s56jY/thomas-kwa...