- According to a letter from the whistleblowers obtained by the Washington Post,the whistleblowers claim that OpenAI violated federal laws by preventing them from raising concerns about safety issues related to the technology.
- OpenAI in May formed a Safety and Security Committee,but they did not immediately respond to requests for a comment on the letter.
OUR TAKE
AI is rapidly and significantly changing the current tech landscape,and some of OpenAI’s policies and practices are preventing employees from speaking up and making them feel like their are being violated.Safety is one of the biggest concerns regarding the rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence models.So we should call on the government to tighten regulation of the company and the AI industry as a whole.
–Rebecca Xu, BTW reporter
What happened
In a letter from the whistleblowers obtained by the Washington Post,they claimed that OpenAI violated federal regulations by preventing them from voicing their concerns about the security aspects of the technology.The letter even more about OpenAI’s shocking lack of transparency.
OpenAI has entered into overly restrictive employment,severance and confidentiality agreements with its employees. Employees must obtain the company’s prior consent if they wish to disclose information to federal regulators,adding that OpenAI does not have an exemption in its employee confidentiality clause for disclosure of securities violations to the SEC.
The letter also continued,“As the potential risks of irresponsible AI deployment are well-documented, we call on the Commissioners to promptly authorise an investigation into OpenAI’s past NDAs and assess the steps being taken by the company to ensure compliance with SEC regulations”.
In the face of numerous allegations, OpenAI has not immediately responded to requests for a comment on the letter, despite the fact that they have set up a Safety and Security Committee.
Also read:OpenAI’s illegally restrictive NDAs: Who’s muzzling whom?
Also read:Whistleblowers require SEC investigation into OpenAI’s NDAs
Why it’s important
The whistleblowers’ letter has been released just a few months following the disclosure that OpenAI had warned ex-employees about the risk of forfeiting millions of dollars if they publicly criticised the company.This shows that the whistleblowers’ letter is not a coincidence.
The generative AI capabilities of OpenAI’s chatbots, including their ability to converse like humans and generate images from textual cues, has sparked safety apprehensions in the wake of AI models’ growing potency.
OpenAI should strengthen the transparency of the company’s management and safeguard the legal rights of its employees.In order for the federal government to stay ahead in the field of artificial intelligence, OpenAI’s confidentiality agreements must be changed.It is crucial for the government to enhance regulation of companies and the AI industry as a whole.
