OpenAI Sets Up "Anti-Bureaucracy Email": A Single Email Can Reach Sam Altman

According to Dynamic Beating monitoring, OpenAI has an internal special mailbox, friction@, dedicated to handling work slowdowns or "friction." Employees can report technical failures, process issues, or even parking and office equipment matters. The management team triages the emails, and if the issue is deemed significant enough, CEO Sam Altman or President Greg Brockman will intervene directly.

This mailbox has been in existence for a while, but it was formally institutionalized by Fidji Simo after joining OpenAI. The company has assigned a dedicated person to monitor the mailbox and provides monthly updates on the resolution progress to all staff via Slack. The mailbox has already driven initiatives such as a parking allocation pilot and a revamp of the API quota allocation process.

Internally, opinions on this mechanism are divided. A former employee believes that anyone can bypass hierarchy and escalate "big company problems" directly to Sam. However, another former team lead mentioned that once Sam or Greg supports a particular friction, the responsible team must prioritize it over their current tasks, potentially leading to new ad-hoc firefighting.

Interestingly, OpenAI rarely uses email in its day-to-day operations. Former engineer Calvin French-Owen once stated that almost everything in the company happens on Slack, with him receiving only about 10 emails in a year. OpenAI plans to expand its workforce from around 4500 people to 8000 people by the end of this year. This special mailbox aims to sustain the speed of direct cross-level issue resolution as the company rapidly scales.