Former employees of OpenAI are released from controversial exit agreements.

• On Thursday, OpenAI reversed its decision to require former employees to sign a non-disparagement agreement with no expiration date or keep their vested equity in the company.
• CNBC viewed an internal memo that was sent to former and current employees.
• OpenAI wrote in an internal memo that they will not cancel any Vested Units, regardless of whether the Agreement was executed.
• An OpenAI spokesperson apologized to CNBC, stating that they regret not changing the language earlier, as it does not align with their values or the company they aspire to become.

On Thursday, OpenAI reversed its decision to require former employees to sign a non-disparagement agreement with no expiration date or keep their vested equity in the company.

CNBC viewed an internal memo that was sent to former and current employees.

Each former employee received a memo stating that they were required to sign a general release agreement with a non-disparagement provision in order to retain their Vested Units at the time of their departure from OpenAI.

The memo stated that OpenAI will not cancel any Vested Units, regardless of whether the Agreement was executed.

The memo stated that OpenAI would not enforce any non-disparagement or non-solicitation contract provisions beyond what the employee had previously signed.

An OpenAI spokesperson informed CNBC that important updates are being made to the departure process, as previously shared with employees.

The statement clarified that they would not and would never take away vested equity from employees who did not sign departure documents. They would remove nondisparagement clauses from their standard departure paperwork and release former employees from existing obligations unless the nondisparagement provision was mutual. The statement also assured that former employees would be informed of this change.

The OpenAI spokesperson stated that they are deeply sorry for not changing the language earlier, as it does not align with their values or the company they aspire to become.

Vox first reported on the existence of the NDA provision, while Bloomberg first reported on the release from the non-disparagement provision.

There has been growing debate surrounding OpenAI in recent days.

One week after OpenAI introduced various audio voices for ChatGPT, the company announced that it would remove one of the popular chatbot's voices, "Sky."

The use of Scarlett Johansson's voice in "Her," a movie about artificial intelligence, sparked controversy. Despite her refusal to allow OpenAI to use her voice, the Hollywood star has accused the company of stealing it.

"The company has paused the use of Sky's voice in ChatGPT while they investigate how the voices were chosen."

Last week, OpenAI disbanded its team focused on the long-term risks of artificial intelligence, just one year after the company announced the group, a source confirmed to CNBC.

Some team members are being reassigned to multiple other teams within the company, according to a person who spoke to CNBC on condition of anonymity.

Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, both leaders of OpenAI, announced their departures, with Leike stating on Friday that OpenAI's "safety culture and processes have been overshadowed by the development of new products."

The Superalignment team at OpenAI, established last year, has focused on achieving "scientific and technical advancements to guide and control AI systems that outsmart us." At the time, OpenAI pledged to allocate 20% of its computing resources to the initiative over a four-year period.

The company did not offer a statement on the record and instead referred CNBC to CEO Sam Altman's recent post on X, in which he expressed regret over Leike's departure and emphasized the need for more work to be done.

On Saturday, Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, posted a statement attributed to both himself and Altman, stating that the company has raised awareness of the risks and opportunities of AGI so that the world can better prepare for it.