Thank you for responding! (I have more comments and questions but figured I would shoot off one quick question which is easy to ask)
We’ve since recognized that this routine use of non-disparagement agreements, even in these narrow cases, conflicts with our mission
Can you clarify what you mean by “even in these narrow cases”? If I am understanding you correctly, you are saying that you were including a non-disparagement clause by default in all of your severance agreements, which sounds like the opposite of narrow (edit: though as Robert points out it depends on what fraction of employees get offered any kind of severance, which might be most, or might be very few).
I agree that it would have technically been possible for you to also include such an agreement on start of employment, but that would have been very weird, and not even OpenAI did that.
I think using the sentence “even in these narrow cases” seems inappropriate given that (if I am understanding you correctly) all past employees were affected by these agreements. I think it would be good to clarify what fraction of past employees were actually offered these agreements.
Severance agreements typically aren’t offered to all departing employees, but usually only those that are fired or laid off. We know that not all past employees were affected by these agreements, because Ivan claims to not have been offered such an agreement, and he left[1] in mid-2023, which was well before June 1st.
Ah, fair, that would definitely make the statement substantially more accurate.
@Sam McCandlish: Could you clarify whether severance agreements were also offered to voluntarily departing employees, and if so, under which conditions?
Thank you for responding! (I have more comments and questions but figured I would shoot off one quick question which is easy to ask)
Can you clarify what you mean by “even in these narrow cases”? If I am understanding you correctly, you are saying that you were including a non-disparagement clause by default in all of your severance agreements, which sounds like the opposite of narrow (edit: though as Robert points out it depends on what fraction of employees get offered any kind of severance, which might be most, or might be very few).
I agree that it would have technically been possible for you to also include such an agreement on start of employment, but that would have been very weird, and not even OpenAI did that.
I think using the sentence “even in these narrow cases” seems inappropriate given that (if I am understanding you correctly) all past employees were affected by these agreements. I think it would be good to clarify what fraction of past employees were actually offered these agreements.Severance agreements typically aren’t offered to all departing employees, but usually only those that are fired or laid off. We know that not all past employees were affected by these agreements, because Ivan claims to not have been offered such an agreement, and he left[1] in mid-2023, which was well before June 1st.
Presumably of his own volition, hence no offered severance agreement with non-disparagement clauses.
Ah, fair, that would definitely make the statement substantially more accurate.
@Sam McCandlish: Could you clarify whether severance agreements were also offered to voluntarily departing employees, and if so, under which conditions?