OpenAI Whistleblowers Allege Illegal Prohibition on Disclosing Risks

OpenAI whistleblowers allege that the company illegally prohibited employees from disclosing information to regulators about the risks of its technology to humanity, the Washington Post reported, citing a seven-page letter the whistleblowers sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US market regulator.

Specific Allegations:

The allegations include OpenAI making its employees sign agreements requiring them to waive their federal rights to whistleblower compensation and a mandate to seek permission from the company before disclosing information to federal authorities.

This is a direct violation of the law, the report read. The agreements threatened the employees with legal action for reporting violations without recognizing their right to report such information to the government.

OpenAI Response on the matter:

“Our whistleblower policy protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures. Additionally, we believe rigorous debate about this technology is essential and have already made important changes to our departure process to remove nondisparagement terms,” OpenAI spokesperson Hannah Wong said in a response statement, according to the report.

The release of OpenAI’s latest AI model for ChatGPT was rushed, and employees expressed concerns that the company “failed” to live up to its security testing protocol to protect the AI from issues like teaching users to build bioweapons or helping hackers develop new kinds of cyberattacks, according to the report.

Silicon Valley’s Broader Issue with Whistleblowers:

This issue is not unique to OpenAI. The Washington Post quoted Chris Baker, a San Francisco lawyer, as saying that fighting against Silicon Valley companies using such agreements has been a long battle.

He won a $27 million settlement for Google employees who made similar allegations of the tech giant blocking whistleblowers through similar means. This was also seen with other companies, with employees filing complaints with the SEC, such as Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Efforts by OpenAI Towards Safety:

According to a Reuters report, OpenAI formed a Safety and Security Committee in May led by board members, including CEO Sam Altman, as it began training for its next AI model. This report added that OpenAI’s chatbots’ generative AI capabilities have caused safety concerns.