OpenAI Employees Warn of Advanced AI Dangers

Several current and former employees of OpenAI and Google DeepMind today shared an open letter warning of the dangers of advanced AI and the current lack of oversight of companies working on AI technology.

open ai logo
The employees suggest there are a number of risks that we are facing from AI development, including further entrenchment of existing inequalities, manipulation and misinformation, and loss of control of autonomous AI systems, which the letter says could lead to human extinction.

AI companies have "strong financial incentives" to forge ahead with development and to avoid sharing information about their protective measures and risk levels. "We do not think they can all be relied upon to share it voluntarily," reads the letter, which says that it is up to current and former employees to speak out.

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. Yet broad confidentiality agreements block us from voicing our concerns, except to the very companies that may be failing to address these issues. Ordinary whistleblower protections are insufficient because they focus on illegal activity, whereas many of the risks we are concerned about are not yet regulated.

Employees are ultimately calling on AI companies to offer solid whistleblower protections for speaking out about the risks of AI.

  • Avoid creating or enforcing agreements that prevent criticism for risk-related concerns.
  • Offer a verifiably anonymous process for employees to raise risk-related concerns to the board, regulators, and independent organizations with relevant expertise.
  • Support a culture of open criticism to allow employees to raise risk-related concerns about technologies to the public, the board, regulators, and more, as long as trade secrets are protected.
  • Avoid retaliating against employees who publicly share risk-related confidential information after other processes have failed.

A total of 13 employees signed the letter, including seven former OpenAI employees, four current OpenAI employees, one former Google DeepMind employee, and one current Google DeepMind employee. OpenAI has threatened employees with loss of vested equity for speaking up, and it makes them sign draconian NDA agreements that muzzle criticism.

The letter comes as Apple prepares to announce multiple AI-powered features for iOS 18 and other software updates on Monday. Apple is working on its own AI functionality that will be baked into apps across the operating system, plus it has signed a deal with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT features into ‌iOS 18‌.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...

Top Rated Comments

iBreatheApple Avatar
10 months ago
I really can’t handle all the doom and gloom we have to face on a daily basis. The sky is falling media headlines, the election, protests, our country’s border disintegrating (USA), people being hateful and violent in general, the comment sections online, knowing about every injustice that ever happens, every tragedy, every disaster…
Where is the internet kill switch.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goobot Avatar
10 months ago
Who cares about human extinction when we can increase our profits from 80 billion to 81 billion
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GoosePoops Avatar
10 months ago
I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
icanhazmac Avatar
10 months ago
I applaud their efforts but I fear this cat is out of the bag and even if civilized countries and/or entities behave, others won't.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
subjonas Avatar
10 months ago

Uhmm, if a potential whistle-blower is witnessing a threat as serious as human extinction, why is he or she worried about potential retaliation from the corporation? In a situation like that, you blow the whistle no matter the personal consequences, unless, of course, you're just being a bit dramatic.
Because no one really knows exactly how likely or big the risk is, there are too many variables. And it’s really easy to tell someone else to put their livelihood on the line. What they’ve done already takes more courage than most people have.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
123jmail Avatar
10 months ago
Uhmm, if a potential whistle-blower is witnessing a threat as serious as human extinction, why is he or she worried about potential retaliation from the corporation? In a situation like that, you blow the whistle no matter the personal consequences, unless, of course, you're just being a bit dramatic.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)