OpenAI: Employee Equity Claims Aren’t a Symmetry Breaking Discrepancy, nor Is There an Effort

OpenAI came under criticism last month after a Vox article revealed that the company has threatened to claw back employees’ equity if they do not sign non-disparagement agreements that forbid them from criticizing the company or even mentioning the existence of such an agreement. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, said on X recently that he was unaware of such arrangements and the company had never clawed back anyone’s equity. Employees will be able to speak out when the clause is removed. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment by time of posting.

“These risks range from the further entrenchment of existing inequalities, to manipulation and misinformation, to the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction,” reads the letter published at righttowarn.ai. There is no effective government oversight of these corporations, which means current and former employees are the only ones who can hold them accountable.

The letter argues that the current whistle-blower protections are insufficient because they focus on illegal activity instead of concerns that are mostly unregulated. According to the Department of Labor, violations of wages, discrimination, safety, fraud and withholding of time off can be reported to the Department of Labor, which protects them from being retaliated against. Some of us fear reprisals given the history of such cases in the industry. We are not the first to speak about these issues.

Openai fired Altman: a case of lying at the board of governance in the adolescent e-newsletter

Did you work at Openai in the past? We would like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact Will Knight at [email protected] or securely on Signal at wak.01.

The board of Openai decided last November to fire Altman for failing to reveal information and misleading them. After a very public fight, most of the board was ousted.