OpenAI's confidentiality agreements are under scrutiny again after whistleblowers wrote a letter to the SEC alleging that employees were forced to sign “unlawfully restrictive” agreements that prevented them from speaking out about potential harms of the company's technology. The letter, which was obtained and posted online by technology/2024/07/13/openai-safety-risks-whistleblower-sec/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzIwODQzMjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzIyMjI1NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MjA4NDMyMDAsImp0aSI6IjdhZTg0MTk0LTU5NzktNDBkYi1hY2NjLWExMGYxNGFlNjM4NCIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjQvMDcvMTMvb3BlbmFpLXNhZmV0eS1yaXNrcy13aGlzdGxlYmxvd2VyLXNlYy8ifQ.yAp3GO6zSlFHU0oDFBxhOhOITSti0RdGqba3AOj2SZE” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:The Washington Post;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>accuses OpenAI of violating SEC rules intended to protect employees’ rights to report concerns to federal authorities and avoid retaliation. This follows an official complaint filed with the SEC in June.
In the letter, the whistleblowers call on the SEC to “take swift and aggressive action” to enforce rules they claim OpenAI has violated. The alleged violations include forcing employees to sign agreements “that do not exempt the SEC from disclosing securities violations” and requiring employees to obtain the company’s consent before disclosing confidential information to authorities. The letter also says that OpenAI’s agreements required employees to “forgo compensation that Congress intended to incentivize whistleblowing and to provide financial relief to whistleblowers.”
In a statement to the MailOpenAI spokesperson Hannah Wong said: “Our whistleblowing policy protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures,” adding that the company has made “significant changes” to its exit documents to remove non-disparagement terms. OpenAI previously said it was fixing these agreements after it was accused this spring of threatening to do so if employees did not sign non-disclosure agreements upon leaving.
According The Washington PostThe SEC has responded to the complaint, but details about what action it will or will not take have not yet been released. But the whistleblowers say enforcement is of the utmost importance “even as OpenAI is making reforms in light of public disclosures of its illegal contracts.” The letter says it is necessary “not as an attack on OpenAI or to hinder the advancement of ai technology, but to send a message to others in the ai space, and the tech industry at large, that violations of employees’ or investors’ right to whistleblower will not be tolerated.”
