On December 14, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI notified its staff last week of a significant policy shift: the removal of the six-month employment requirement for equity vesting, commonly referred to as the "vesting cliff." Under the prior system, employees needed to stay with the company for a minimum of six months to qualify for equity vesting. Those who departed within this period forfeited their stock options entirely. Fidji Simo, Head of Applied AI at OpenAI, explained that the new policy is designed to foster innovation among new hires by alleviating concerns about potential layoffs before they receive their initial equity awards.

This move follows OpenAI's earlier decision in April to reduce the equity vesting period for new employees from one year to six months. Now, the company has completely eliminated the waiting period. With the AI sector becoming increasingly competitive, firms like Meta and Google are aggressively recruiting top talent by offering substantial salaries. However, OpenAI's equity incentives already far surpass those of its peers. This year, the company anticipates equity compensation expenses to hit $6 billion, constituting nearly half of its projected revenue.