New York: OpenAI whistleblowers have lodged a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, urging an investigation into the company’s allegedly restrictive non-disclosure agreements, as reported by the Washington Post on Saturday. The letter sent to the SEC detailed concerns over OpenAI’s employment, severance, and nondisclosure agreements, which reportedly imposed severe penalties on employees disclosing concerns to federal authorities.
According to the newspaper, OpenAI mandated employees to sign agreements that waived their federal rights to whistleblower compensation. Additionally, these agreements stipulated that employees needed prior consent from the company before disclosing information to federal regulators. Notably, OpenAI did not include exemptions in nondisparagement clauses for reporting securities violations to the SEC.
An SEC spokesperson refrained from commenting on the whistleblower submission’s existence, while OpenAI has not responded to requests for comment on the Washington Post’s report.
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The development comes amid growing concerns about OpenAI’s chatbots, which possess advanced generative AI capabilities, raising questions about their safety implications as AI technology advances. In response, OpenAI recently established a Safety and Security Committee, to be chaired by board members including CEO Sam Altman, to oversee the training of its upcoming AI models.
