If you're job hunting, late-night radio ads probably aren't where you'd expect to find your next opportunity. But that's exactly at the heart of the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) allegations against OpenAI: one of the most closely watched AI companies in the world reportedly advertised certain job openings on late-night radio instead of posting them on its own public careers page.
According to findings released by the DOJ, OpenAI and one of its subsidiaries failed to broadly advertise certain positions through the standard Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) process — a process designed to ensure employers give U.S. workers fair consideration before sponsoring foreign employees for visas. The DOJ says that instead of listing these roles on external job boards, OpenAI required applicants to submit their resumes by mail, even though the company accepted electronic applications for all its other openings. Investigators concluded this pattern of behavior effectively locked American job seekers out of the running, clearing the path for workers on temporary work visas to fill those roles instead.
The case was resolved with a $3.2 million settlement. Of that, $1.2 million will go to the U.S. government as a civil penalty, while the remaining $2 million will fund back-pay compensation for job seekers who may have been unfairly passed over. The DOJ says it will review every application submitted by U.S. workers to determine whether they were genuinely given fair consideration at the time; the fund is intended for applicants who applied but weren't properly evaluated — not for people who simply never saw the ads and never had a chance to apply in the first place.
Under the settlement, OpenAI is now required to post open positions publicly on its own careers website, accept electronic applications, and train staff on anti-discrimination provisions under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
This isn't the first time a tech giant has been caught running this kind of playbook. In 2021, Meta reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the DOJ following a lawsuit over its H-1B visa hiring practices. In 2023, the DOJ found Apple had used similarly low-profile recruiting tactics. Zooming out, U.S. scrutiny of H-1B visas has intensified sharply in recent years: in September 2025, President Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional $100,000 fee on certain H-1B visa applications, a move that's hit tech companies reliant on foreign talent to varying degrees. OpenAI's settlement is just the latest example of a tech company getting caught using old-school tricks to dodge the rules amid this tightening regulatory climate.
