OpenAI friction email routes workplace bottlenecks to leadership

OpenAI’s friction email address is [email protected], an internal channel employees can use to flag workplace bottlenecks. It does not promise an immediate or personal response from Chief Executive Sam Altman; Fortune reports that leadership first screens submissions and may bring in Altman or President Greg Brockman for matters it considers important.

The process is designed to surface obstacles that can slow work, from broken technical systems and ineffective procedures to office concerns. Fortune reported that one example was a complaint about too few IT vending machines.

How does OpenAI’s friction email work?

Employees send an issue to the inbox, then OpenAI’s leadership team triages it and chooses which cases to advance, according to Fortune. For selected issues, senior executives can step in to make sure a resolution is carried out.

That means the address functions as an escalation route rather than a direct line to Altman. The reported sequence is employee report, leadership review, action on selected cases, and possible involvement by Altman or Brockman.

• OpenAI launched a pilot that gave parking priority to employees with long commutes after full lots became a concern, Fortune reported.
• Employees also raised the need for a more dependable, scalable way to distribute API credits, according to Fortune.
• Reports can cover technical failures, internal processes and office operations.

Fortune said the inbox had existed before it became more widely used in fall 2025, when Fidji Simo joined OpenAI as chief executive of Applications. Simo conducted a listening tour, then added a more formal structure around the channel, Fortune reported.

Irina Kofman, OpenAI’s vice president of strategic initiatives and operations, was assigned to monitor the inbox and help see selected matters through. Simo also began monthly company-wide Slack updates on cases and their progress, according to Fortune.

Simo left OpenAI in early July for health reasons and to focus on her healthcare startup, Fortune reported. The friction process and the company-wide Slack updates continued after her departure.

What kinds of problems can employees report?

The system gives staff a route to raise problems that might otherwise remain within a team or department. A former OpenAI employee told Fortune it gave leadership useful feedback from employees working closest to the problems and helped address issues before they grew.

The channel also has critics. A former OpenAI team leader told Fortune that repeated escalations could disrupt already stretched teams, turning a request into urgent work for the group seen as responsible for the blockage.

The account of the process comes from Fortune’s reporting. It establishes that Altman’s involvement is possible for selected cases, not that every email receives an instant answer or intervention from him.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.