OpenAI’s workplace SOS system lets employees escalate problems to Sam Altman and senior leadership, here is how
Follow UsSam Altman or Greg Brockman may intervene when leadership considers an escalation important enough.
Former employees say the system can solve bottlenecks but may also create disruption for already overloaded teams.
Employees can reportedly email friction@openai.com to flag issues that are slowing down their work.
OpenAI has an internal escalation system that allows employees to flag workplace problems directly to the senior leadership, including CEO Sam Altman. As per Fortune, the system revolves around a dedicated “friction” email address, where employees can report issues they believe are slowing down work or creating unnecessary problems. If an issue is considered important enough, Altman or OpenAI President Greg Brockman can step in and push the teams involved to resolve it.
SurveyHow OpenAI’s friction system works
The friction email address, friction@openai.com, became more structured after Fidji Simo joined OpenAI in 2025 as CEO of Applications. Simo reportedly began her tenure with a three-month listening exercise aimed at understanding employee problems. She has since moved into a part-time advisory role.
Former OpenAI employees told Fortune that the system has been used to address operational problems. These included a pilot programme for prioritising parking spaces for employees with longer commutes and efforts to improve the way API credits are allocated.
The system gives employees a way to bypass layers of management when they believe an issue is preventing them from doing their jobs. However, some former employees have questioned whether the approach always improves efficiency.
A former OpenAI team leader told Fortune that they had received dozens of friction escalations and described some as disruptive. According to the former manager, an issue that may appear urgent to the person reporting it can create additional pressure for teams that are already understaffed or overloaded.
Sam Altman can reportedly intervene
The system gives Altman and other senior executives the ability to act quickly on selected complaints. The approach has similarities with Amazon’s former “Jeff B escalation” practice, in which founder Jeff Bezos would forward customer complaints to the responsible team with a question mark.
The system can become even better as OpenAI expands its workforce as the company is planning to have more than 8,000 employees by the end of 2026.
