OpenAI is under spotlight for allegedly forcing exiting employees to choose between keeping their vested equity and signing nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements.
According to a report by Vox, which examined the pertinent documents, employees could lose their vested equity, potentially worth millions, if they declined to sign these agreements.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on X (formerly Twitter) confirmed the existence of this provision but insisted that the company has never enforced it to reclaim anyone’s equity. Altman expressed regret and acknowledged that the clause should not have been included in any company documents and committed to rectifying the standard exit paperwork.
The issue gained further attention when Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI employee, revealed he forfeited a substantial portion of his family’s net worth by refusing to sign the NDA.
Altman responded to the criticism by apologising and inviting any affected former employees to contact him directly for resolution, stressing that the company was already in the process of amending its exit procedures.
in regards to recent stuff about how openai handles equity:
we have never clawed back anyone's vested equity, nor will we do that if people do not sign a separation agreement (or don't agree to a non-disparagement agreement). vested equity is vested equity, full stop.
there was…— Sam Altman (@sama) May 18, 2024
This controversy comes amid a period of significant internal upheaval at OpenAI, marked by the resignations of co-founder and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, followed shortly by Jan Leike, who led the recently disbanded Superalignment AI safety team.
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