OpenAI and unions

OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence corporation employs 4,500 employees as of 2026.[1] It does not have any recognized trade unions. Employees have signed public open letters regarding their employer.

Subcontractors

51 data annotators in Nairobi, Kenya, employed by Sama were subcontracted to work on ChatGPT from 2021 to 2022. Workers alleged long-term psychological harm and lack of transparency about the nature of their tasks, which included reviewing graphic, violent images and text for less than USD$2 an hour.[2] 150 workers subcontracted to work on ChatGPT, TikTok and Meta formed the African Content Moderator's Union on May 1, 2023.[3]

Open letters by employees

300 Google employees and 60 OpenAI employees supported the lawsuit in early 2026, launched by Anthropic, a competitor regarding their contract disputes with the US military over the usage of AI by the military and subsequent contract termination.[4]

Removal of Sam Altman

Main article: Removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI

In response to Sam Altman's removal as CEO in November 2023, 738 of OpenAI's 770 employees signed an open letter stating they would quit their jobs and join Microsoft if the board did not rehire Altman and then resign.[5][6] This prompted OpenAI investors to consider legal action against the board as well.[7] In response, OpenAI management sent an internal memo to employees stating that negotiations with Altman and the board had resumed.[8]

References

  1. ^ Palyekar, Ananya. "March 21 2026". Reuters.
  2. ^ Rowe, Niamh (2023-08-02). "'It's destroyed me completely': Kenyan moderators decry toll of training of AI models". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
  3. ^ Perrigo, Billy (May 1, 2023). "150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting". Time Magazine.
  4. ^ Silberling, Amanda (2026-02-27). "Employees at Google and OpenAI support Anthropic's Pentagon stand in open letter". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2026-03-21.
  5. ^ "OpenAI Staff Near Total Mutiny With Threat to Jump to Microsoft". Bloomberg News. November 20, 2023. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  6. ^ Knight, Will (November 20, 2023). "OpenAI Staff Threaten to Quit Unless Board Resigns". Wired. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  7. ^ Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal (November 20, 2023). "Exclusive: OpenAI investors considering suing the board after CEO's abrupt firing". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  8. ^ Lawler, Richard (November 21, 2023). "OpenAI exec to employees: "our number one goal remains to reunify OpenAI."". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.