On Wednesday, the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department revealed that OpenAI and its former subsidiary Statsig have reached a settlement that mandates three years of oversight concerning the hiring practices of the AI organization.

The DOJ has claimed that these entities employed various strategies to bar U.S. citizens from applying for positions occupied by immigrant workers while they were being sponsored for permanent residency in the U.S. Though the companies did not acknowledge any wrongdoing, they consented to pay $3.2 million. Out of this amount, $1.2 million constitutes a fine, while the remainder of $2 million will be reserved for compensating U.S. citizens who applied for those roles, provided the DOJ identifies any individuals harmed.

The DOJ asserted that OpenAI and Statsig violated sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by failing to genuinely seek qualified U.S. citizens for these positions before initiating permanent residency applications (PERM), as mandated by the INA. According to the DOJ, they did not post vacancies on public job boards, promoted roles during late-night radio segments, and insisted on paper applications instead of electronic formats.

Despite there being fewer than 10 positions involved, the DOJ noted that under the terms of the settlement, the entities are required to pay the fine and undergo departmental oversight concerning their PERM positions. Oversight entails tasks such as creating and obtaining approval for their hiring policies for PERM roles and submitting biannual reports. These reports must detail how many applications for foreign workers were pursued, the number of U.S. citizens interviewed, along with additional statistics.

OpenAI took over AI A/B testing firm Statsig in September 2025 and subsequently divested part of the enterprise in May 2026. Nevertheless, the DOJ indicates it began investigating both firms separately prior to the acquisition, in August 2025, involving five cases against OpenAI from 2023 to 2025, and one related to Statsig.

The DOJ states that this settlement is a component of its intensified approach towards companies on this issue. However, the INA, instituted in 1952, has been upheld by various administrations against other major tech firms. For example, during the Biden administration, both Facebook and Apple entered into comparable settlements, although in those instances, the DOJ claimed the violations were extensive and systematic.