OpenAI releases former employees from non-disparagement clauses

(Bloomberg) — OpenAI is exempting most former employees from non-disparagement agreements tied to their exit and equity agreements, the startup confirmed Thursday.

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In a message sent to former employees on Thursday, the company said it would not seek to cancel employee equity acquired if they spoke out about the company. “Regardless of whether you executed the agreement, we write to notify you that OpenAI has not canceled, and will not cancel, any acquired units,” said the message, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. Current employees have also been notified of the change.

Employees have been raising concerns about the restrictions after Vox reported last week that some OpenAI employees were asked to sign non-disparagement agreements tied to their shares in the company. This put employees at risk of potentially lucrative equity recovered if they spoke out against OpenAI and the company decided to enforce the non-disclosure, non-disparagement portion of the exit agreement.

While confidentiality is standard practice at many technology companies, some employees have bristled at the prospect of tying non-disparagement agreements to shares, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

In a statement released Thursday, OpenAI said it would remove the language from its exit documentation for departing employees, as well as release former employees from non-disparagement agreements, “unless the non-disparagement provision was mutual.” .

“We regret the distress this has caused the people who worked hard for us,” Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon said in a statement. “We have been working to correct this as quickly as possible. We will work even harder to be better.”

(Updates with executive comments in final paragraph.)

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