OpenAI ex-employees worry about company's control over their millions of dollars in shares

With OpenAI's valuation soaring and an IPO nowhere in sight, the company is giving employees the chance to sell some equity in secondary transactions.

However, current and former OpenAI employees have been increasingly concerned about access to liquidity, according to interviews and documents shared internally.

"If you have any vested Units and you do not sign the exit documents, including the General Release, as required by company policy, it is important to understand that, among other things, you will not be eligible to participate in future tender events or other liquidity opportunities that we may sponsor or facilitate as a private company," OpenAI wrote in the agreement, which was viewed by CNBC.

In an email sent to CNBC late Monday, an OpenAI spokesperson said,"All eligible current and former employees have been offered opportunities for liquidity at the same price in the past, regardless of where they work or what they signed at departure." The company doesn't expect that to change, the spokesperson said.A former employee, who shared his OpenAI correspondence with CNBC, asked the company for additional confirmation that his equity and that of others was secure.

The person then tagged CEO Sam Altman in the message, highlighting what he described as a paradox in Altman's stated effort to responsibly build artificial general intelligence, or AGI. For former employees, the rounds typically took place months after transactions for current staffers, according to an internal document. In at least two tender offers, the sales limit for former employees was $2 million, compared to $10 million for current employees.

"For example, in prior tender offers, we have disclosed detailed financial data, and non-public information about our Microsoft deals, even when the negotiations were still ongoing and unannounced," the company wrote in the internal document.

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