OpenAI's "Friction" Email: Employees Alert Sam Altman

OpenAI employees can directly email CEO Sam Altman and other top leaders to report internal problems. This system, called "friction," lets staff flag issues slowing down work, from technical glitches to workplace processes. Employees send complaints to [email protected], and the leadership team reviews them. If an issue is important, it can be escalated to Altman or OpenAI President Greg Brockman, who may step in to resolve it. One example led to testing a new parking system, and another improved the process for granting API credits. A former employee says this gives staff a way to complain about "big company bullsh*t directly to Sam" and helps leaders remove bureaucracy. This internal email system is similar to a practice at Amazon under Jeff Bezos, where customer emails could be escalated with just a question mark. This matters because it shows how some companies try to address internal bottlenecks and employee concerns directly.