OpenAI Whistleblowers Expose Illegal Restrictions in NDAs

Some whistleblowers at OpenAI have exposed the tech company on some of the restrictions included in the NDAs they signed.

According to a letter from The Washington Post, whistleblowers have accused OpenAI of imposing unlawful restrictions on the communication between employees and government regulators.

The letter was sent to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler by attorneys who represent anonymous whistleblowers. The letter pertains to a distinct, formal complaint that requests that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigate OpenAI’s non-disclosure, non-disparagement, and severance agreements.

The letter asserts that the agreements “prohibited and discouraged both employees and investors from communicating with the SEC concerning securities violations, required employees to waive their rights to whistleblower incentives and compensation, and required employees to notify the company of communication with government regulators.”

The letter also states that the SEC has been furnished with evidence that “OpenAI’s prior NDAs violated the law by requiring its employees to sign illegally restrictive contracts to obtain employment, severance payments, and other financial consideration.”

OpenAI did not promptly address TechCrunch’s inquiry for comment. The Post was informed by a spokesperson for the company that OpenAI’s whistleblower policy “protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures.”

A spokesperson for Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) verified to TechCrunch that The Post obtained a copy of the letter from Senator Grassley’s office. (Copies were transmitted to Congress.)

“Congress’s constitutional obligation to safeguard our national security includes the monitoring and mitigating AI-related threats, and whistleblowers will be indispensable in this endeavor,” Grassley stated. “OpenAI’s policies and practices seem to have a chilling effect on the right of whistleblowers to speak up and receive appropriate compensation for their protected disclosures.”

He further stated that for the federal government to remain “ahead of the curve” in artificial intelligence, the non-disclosure agreements of OpenAI must be modified.

Earlier this year, OpenAI’s employee termination agreement was criticized due to provisions that purportedly would have deprived former employees of their vested equity if they refused to sign the document or violated their NDAs. Subsequently, CEO Sam Altman expressed his “deepest apologies” and asserted that the organization had “never clawed anything back” and was “currently in the process of rectifying the standard exit paperwork.”