AI whistleblowers speak out

The Big Story 

A group of current and former employees at top artificial intelligence (AI) companies called for more transparency and protections for whistleblowers in an open letter.

© AP Photo/Richard Drew

The letter is signed by 13 current and former employees of OpenAI, Google’s DeepMind and Anthropic, with six of the signatories choosing to remain anonymous, our colleague Tara Suter reported.

“So long as there is no effective government oversight of these corporations, current and former employees are among the few people who can hold them accountable to the public,” the letter reads.

“Yet broad confidentiality agreements block us from voicing our concerns, except to the very companies that may be failing to address these issues.”

The letter specifically requests that advanced AI companies commit to several principles, including not entering “into any agreement that prohibits ‘disparagement’ or criticism of the company for risk-related concern” and supporting “a culture of open criticism.”

“Ordinary whistleblower protections are insufficient because they focus on illegal activity, whereas many of the risks we are concerned about are not yet regulated,” the letter continues.

“Some of us reasonably fear various forms of retaliation, given the history of such cases across the industry. We are not the first to encounter or speak about these issues.”

Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Rebecca Klar and Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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