Whistleblowers Allege OpenAI Enforces ‘Unlawfully Restrictive’ NDAs

Whistleblowers have accused OpenAI of imposing illegal restrictions on employee communications with government regulators, as revealed in a letter obtained by The Washington Post.

Attorneys for anonymous whistleblowers submitted this letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler. It references a formal complaint requesting that the SEC investigate OpenAI’s severance, non-disparagement, and non-disclosure agreements.

The letter states, “These agreements prohibited and discouraged both employees and investors from discussing potential securities violations with the SEC, forced employees to renounce their rights to whistleblower incentives and compensation, and mandated that employees inform the company about any communication with government regulators.”

Additionally, the letter asserts that the SEC has received evidence demonstrating that “OpenAI’s previous NDAs violated the law by requiring employees to sign excessively restrictive contracts in order to gain employment, severance payments, and other financial benefits.”

OpenAI did not respond immediately to requests for comment. However, a company spokesperson told The Washington Post that OpenAI’s whistleblower policy is designed to “protect employees’ rights to make protected disclosures.”

A representative for Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) confirmed to The Washington Post that the senator's office had provided the letter to them. (Copies were also sent to Congress.)

“Monitoring and mitigating the risks associated with AI is part of Congress's constitutional duty to safeguard our national security, and whistleblowers will play a vital role in that effort,” Grassley stated. “OpenAI’s policies seem to create a chilling effect on whistleblowers’ rights to come forward and receive due compensation for their protected disclosures.”

He added that if the federal government hopes to remain “one step ahead of artificial intelligence,” revisions to OpenAI's nondisclosure agreements are essential.

Earlier this year, OpenAI's employee exit agreements faced criticism for clauses that reportedly would have deprived former employees of their vested equity if they declined to sign the document or breached their NDAs. CEO Sam Altman later expressed that he was “very sorry,” while asserting that the company had “never clawed anything back” and was “already in the process of updating the standard exit paperwork.”

Keywords: whistleblowers, OpenAI, SEC, non-disclosure agreements, employee rights, artificial intelligence policy.