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Accused of discriminating against U.S. citizens in hiring, OpenAI pays $3.2 million to settle
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- DeepHorus
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that OpenAI will pay $3.2 million to settle allegations that it discriminated against American citizens by prioritizing foreign workers holding temporary visas in its hiring process. This amount is approximately 21.651 million yuan at current exchange rates. The DOJ investigation found that OpenAI, when recruiting for certain positions, did not publicly post the job openings on its external recruitment website, but instead directly recruited and hired foreign workers. Additionally, OpenAI and its subsidiary Statsig Inc. took some unusual measures to reduce the willingness of American applicants, such as choosing to post job openings late at night and requiring applicants to submit paper application materials instead of electronic applications.
According to U.S. immigration law, if an employer cannot find qualified American workers, it may apply for permanent residence status (green card) for foreign workers, but only after completing a strict public recruitment process. The DOJ pointed out that OpenAI's actions violated this requirement, excluding American workers from high-paying tech positions. Under the settlement agreement, OpenAI will pay a $1.2 million civil penalty and establish a $2 million compensation fund to compensate victims affected by the company's discriminatory hiring practices.
In addition to the fines, OpenAI must also adjust its recruitment processes and related policies, provide immigration law training to employees, and accept ongoing monitoring and regular reporting requirements. These measures are intended to ensure that future recruitment processes comply with U.S. immigration law and prevent similar discriminatory practices from recurring. An OpenAI spokesperson said in response that the company needs to recruit talent globally to fulfill its mission of "ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity." The spokesperson also emphasized: "While we disagree with the DOJ's findings, we reached this agreement to resolve the matter appropriately and continue the company's PERM program, which is essential for employees and job seekers who need immigration support."
The DOJ said that the number of positions involved in the investigation was "fewer than 10," but despite the limited number, the settlement was pursued because "the harm caused by excluding American workers from high-paying tech positions is severe," and the fine amount reflects this impact. This agreement with OpenAI is also the 13th related settlement case reached by the DOJ since it restarted its citizenship employment discrimination enforcement program in 2025.
Analysts believe that this settlement sends a clear signal to the technology industry: companies must strictly follow public recruitment procedures when hiring foreign workers and must not take evasive measures to discriminate against American workers. As the enforcement program continues, more companies may face similar scrutiny in the future. As a leading company in the artificial intelligence field, this settlement not only affects OpenAI's own recruitment strategies but may also prompt the entire industry to re-examine immigration compliance processes.
