Row 57029

Content Data

This page contains data entry 57029 from the Axioma AXP content repository. The structured data below represents the complete record for this entry.

Raw Record

{
  "text": ">That [Sam Altman] apology has been echoed in internal communications by some members of OpenAI’s executive team. In a message to employees that was leaked to Vox, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon acknowledged that the provision had been in place since 2019 but that “The team did catch this ~month ago. The fact that it went this long before the catch is on me.”\n>\n>But there's a problem with those apologies from company leadership. Company documents obtained by Vox with signatures from Altman and Kwon complicate their claim that the clawback provisions were something they hadn’t known about. A separation letter on the termination documents, which you can read embedded below, says in plain language, “If you have any vested Units ... you are required to sign a release of claims agreement within 60 days in order to retain such Units.” It is signed by Kwon, along with OpenAI VP of people Diane Yoon (who departed OpenAI recently). The secret ultra-restrictive NDA, signed for only the “consideration” of already vested equity, is signed by COO Brad Lightcap.\n>\n>Meanwhile, according to documents provided to Vox by ex-employees, the incorporation documents for the holding company that handles equity in OpenAI contains multiple passages with language that gives the company near-arbitrary authority to claw back equity from former employees or — just as importantly — block them from selling it. \n>\n>Those incorporation documents were signed on April 10, 2023, by Sam Altman in his capacity as CEO of OpenAI. \n>\n>Vox asked OpenAI if they could provide context on whether and how these clauses made it into the incorporation documents without Altman’s knowledge. While that question was not directly answered, Kwon said in a statement to Vox, “We are sorry for the distress this has caused great people who have worked hard for us. We have been working to fix this as quickly as possible. We will work even harder to be better.” \n>\n>...\n>\n>OpenAI can still set things right, and may now be getting started on the long and difficult process of doing so. They have taken some first, necessary steps. Altman’s initial statement was criticized for doing too little to make things right for former employees, but in an emailed statement, OpenAI told me that “we are identifying and reaching out to former employees who signed a standard exit agreement to make it clear that OpenAI has not and will not cancel their vested equity and releases them from nondisparagement obligations” — which goes much further toward fixing their mistake.\n>\n>In a fuller statement, OpenAI said: “As we shared with employees today, we are making important updates to our departure process. We have not and never will take away vested equity, even when people didn't sign the departure documents. We're removing nondisparagement clauses from our standard departure paperwork, and we're releasing former employees from existing nondisparagement obligations unless the nondisparagement provision was mutual. We'll communicate this message to former employees. We're incredibly sorry that we're only changing this language now; it doesn't reflect our values or the company we want to be.”\n>\n>I think that represents a huge step forward over the company’s initial May 18 apology; it is specific about the steps OpenAI is taking and involves proactively reaching out to former employees. But I think OpenAI’s work here is far from done. Former employees felt the company put them under pressure from multiple angles, and OpenAI has not yet committed to changing all of those — specifically, they should commit to not excluding anyone from selling their equity on the basis of not signing a document or criticizing Open AI. \n>\n>And, to fully grapple with the situation, OpenAI needs to grapple with responsibility. It's hard to understand how the executive team could have signed documents that laid out avenues to claw back equity from former employees, as well as separation letters which threatened to do the same, without realizing this situation was happening. In order to set this issue right, OpenAI must first acknowledge how extensive it was.\n\nIt's hard to believe that the foundational documents for this company, and documents (such as termination policies) that followed that were signed by Sam Altman were not intentional. It looks like OpenAI was trying to prevent employees and former employees from being so open with the public, and went overboard. Walking things back now is a good start, but it's unlikely that the lost trust will be regained anytime soon regardless of how contrite their press statements might be. This is the company that they created, and with eyes wide open.",
  "label": "r/technology",
  "dataType": "comment",
  "communityName": "r/technology",
  "datetime": "2024-05-23",
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}

Entry Information

• Entry ID: 57029
• Repository: Axioma AXP
• Dataset: arrmlet/reddit_dataset_36
• Total Entries: 100,000