OpenAI faces SEC investigation for allegedly restricting employees from reporting security risks

According to news from this site on July 14, OpenAI has been under scrutiny again for allegedly using restrictive non-disclosure agreements (NDA) to limit employees’ voices. The whistleblower wrote to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that OpenAI forced employees to sign "unlawfully restrictive" agreements that prevented them from disclosing potential harms of the company's technology, The Washington Post reported. The whistleblower letter accuses OpenAI of violating U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules designed to protect employees' rights to report their concerns to federal authorities and prevent retaliation. The whistleblower previously filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June.

Image source Pexels’ complaint letter asked the SEC to “take prompt and decisive measures” to enforce the regulations they believe OpenAI has violated. The alleged violations include requiring employees to sign an agreement "that does not exempt them from disclosure of securities violations to the SEC" and requiring employees to obtain the company's consent before disclosing confidential information to authorities. This site noted that the whistleblower letter also stated that OpenAI’s agreement requires employees to “waive compensation established by Congress to encourage whistleblowing and provide financial assistance to whistleblowers.”
OpenAI spokesperson Hannah Wong said in a statement that "our whistleblower policy protects employees' rights to make lawful disclosures," adding that the company has made "significant changes" to its exit documents to remove the confidentiality clause in the confidentiality agreement. Non-Disparagement Clause. OpenAI has previously said it was revamping those agreements, after coming under fire for threatening to withhold vested rights from departing employees to force them to sign severance agreements.
The SEC has reportedly responded to the complaint but has not yet released any details on what action it will or will not take. But whistleblowers say that even if OpenAI reforms after its illegal contracts are publicly revealed, enforcement will remain paramount. “This is not an attempt to attack OpenAI or impede the development of AI technology, but rather to send a message to other players in the AI space and the tech industry as a whole that violations of employees’ or investors’ rights to report misconduct will not be prosecuted. Tolerate.”

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