Whistleblowers Asked SEC To Probe OpenAI Over Alleged Illegal NDAs

Authored by Tristan Greene via CoinTelegraph.com,

The complainants called the matter “urgent,” but it remains unclear if the SEC will open an investigation…

Parties representing anonymous whistleblowers from artificial intelligence firm OpenAI have reportedly filed a grievance with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission over the firm’s alleged use of illegal non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). 

Documents sent exclusively to the Washington Post, per a report, indicate that a group of whistleblowers associated with OpenAI filed a complaint with the SEC in June alleging the company made former employees sign restrictive, illegal NDAs in order to prevent them from discussing safety and other concerns with federal agents.

Illegal NDAs?

According to the post, the documents it received, linked here, were sent to the newspaper by Senator Chuck Grassley’s office:

“A copy of the letter, addressed to SEC chairman Gary Gensler, was sent to Congress. The Post obtained the whistleblower letter from Grassley’s office.”

Grassley appeared to side with the whistleblowers in comments published by the Post. He stated that “OpenAI’s policies and practices appear to cast a chilling effect on whistleblowers’ right to speak up” and that “OpenAI’s nondisclosure agreements must change.”

The document referring to the original complaint — which hasn’t yet been publicly disclosed — was specifically addressed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Text throughout the filing pointed to the perceived urgency of the situation stating that the SEC “swift and aggressive steps” to enforce rules related both to whistleblower laws and President Biden’s executive order directing domestic tech agencies to build AI systems safely, securely, and in a trustworthy manner.

While the White House executive is essentially toothless — it references no law and provides no penalty for defiance — it does outline the current administration’s outlook towards the sector.

OpenAI’s response

The company appears to be trying to distance itself from its past practices related to NDAs, but no wrongdoing was admitted in commentary provided to the post.

Hannah Wong, an OpenAI spokesperson, told the Post that OpenAI’s “whistleblower policy protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures,” adding that the company believes “rigorous debate about this technology is essential and have already made important changes to our departure process to remove nondisparagement terms.”

Cointelegraph reached out to OpenAI for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.

OpenAI currently faces a number of lawsuits over its alleged “scraping” of copyrighted materials to train its ChatGPT system. However, the firm continues to ink partnerships as it progresses toward its next AI model, purportedly dubbed “Strawberry.”