Representatives of anonymous whistleblowers from the artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI have filed a formal complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The complaint alleges that OpenAI required former employees to sign restrictive non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence them from sharing safety concerns and other issues with federal authorities.
According to a report from the Washington Post, the whistleblowers submitted their complaint in June, claiming that OpenAI’s NDAs were excessively restrictive and illegal.
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A letter addressing these concerns was also sent to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and Congress, with Senator Chuck Grassley’s office providing a copy to the Washington Post. Grassley supported the whistleblowers, emphasizing the need for the NDAs to change to protect employees’ rights to report wrongdoing.
The letter urges the SEC to enforce rules and ensure compliance in the AI sector, as required by the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. The order calls for a collective effort from the government, private sector, academia, and civil society to ensure AI safety.
In response to the allegations, OpenAI has stated that it has made changes to its policies. Hannah Wong, a spokesperson for OpenAI, mentioned that the company’s whistleblower policy protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures. She said:
<We believe> rigorous debate about this technology is essential and have already made important changes to our departure process to remove nondisparagement terms.
The SEC’s decision on whether to investigate OpenAI could have significant implications for the company and the broader AI industry. Ensuring that employee rights are protected while fostering innovation in AI technology remains a critical balance for regulators and companies.
In other news, OpenAI has recently announced its collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory to explore the potential of AI in bioscience research.
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