OpenAI whistleblowers urge US SEC to investigate restrictive non-disclosure agreements
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Whistleblowers from OpenAI have filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, calling for an investigation into the company’s allegedly restrictive nondisclosure agreements for artificial intelligence, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing a copy of the letter sent to the SEC.
According to the newspaper, the whistleblowers alleged that OpenAI provided overly restrictive employment conditions, severance packages and non-disclosure agreements to its employees, which could have led to sanctions against employees who raised concerns about OpenAI with federal authorities.
According to the letter seen by The Washington Post, the AI company made its employees sign agreements that required them to waive their federal rights to whistleblower compensation.
The agreements also required employees to get prior approval from the company if they wanted to release information to federal regulators, the newspaper said. OpenAI also said no exceptions were made in the non-disparagement clauses for employees to report securities law violations to the SEC.
An SEC spokesperson said in an emailed statement that no statements are being made about whether or not a potential whistleblower report exists.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Washington Post report.
OpenAI’s chatbots with generative AI capabilities, such as having human-like conversations and creating images from text messages, have raised security concerns as AI models become more powerful.
OpenAI in May established a Safety and Security Committee led by board members including CEO Sam Altman as the company begins training its next artificial intelligence model.
First print: Jul 13, 2024 | 11:37 PM IST