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Read Sam Altman’s internal Slack message to employees saying ICE ‘is going too far’

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Being patriotic means you also need to call out “overreach” when you see it, Sam Altman privately told OpenAI employees in a message that said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had gone “too far.”

“I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too,” the OpenAI CEO wrote in an internal Slack message. “But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”

OpenAI employees responded positively to Altman’s message on Slack, including heart and thank-you emojis.

Altman’s message, which was first reported by The New York Times’ Dealbook newsletter, comes as CEO and tech leaders face internal and external pressures in the wake of the deadly Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday. Pretti is the second person to be fatally shot by federal law enforcement amid a surge in immigration enforcement in and around Minneapolis.

Altman also praised Trump’s leadership in his message and expressed hope that the president could cool tensions — the latest example of a CEO attempting to balance being critical of actions tied to the Trump administration’s policies while also staying on the president’s good side.

“President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country,” Altman wrote. “I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.”

As a general principle, Altman wrote that OpenAI tries to “stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much.”

On Monday, the White House appeared to be recalibrating its response in the wake of significant criticism, including from some congressional Republicans.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to associate Trump with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller’s initial statements that Pretti was trying to commit domestic terrorism.

Read Sam Altman’s message to employees

I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too. But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far. There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.
President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country. I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.
As a company, we aim to stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much. We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else. But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.

Correction: January 27, 2026 — Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol, not ICE.

Do you work at OpenAI? Contact the reporter from a non-work email and device at bgriffiths@businessinsider.com




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Paramount’s head of streaming product and tech is leaving the company. Read his Slack message to colleagues.

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The head of Paramount Skydance’s streaming product and tech is leaving the company, Business Insider has learned.

Vibol Hou told colleagues in the company’s streaming tech Slack channel that he’s leaving Paramount at the end of January.

“After nearly 12 years of exhilarating work pushing our businesses to new heights, it feels like the right time to hand the torch to the next wave of leaders while I take a much-needed pause to rest, focus on my health (including some serious marathon training), and spend more time with my family before I jump into whatever comes next,” Hou wrote in the Slack message, which was viewed by Business Insider.

Hou’s exit has been anticipated within Paramount for months.

In Hou’s Slack message, he referenced a previous memo from Dane Glasgow, Paramount’s chief product officer, that hinted at the move.

“Vibol has expressed interest in exploring other opportunities, and while he will remain in his role with an anticipated transition early next year, we will continue to explore new projects together,” Glasgow wrote in a mid-October email viewed by Business Insider.

Hou was at Paramount or its subsidiaries for over a decade, including six years at its free streamer, Pluto TV. In that span, Paramount went through several corporate changes, from a ViacomCBS merger to the Paramount Skydance merger that closed in the summer of 2025.

“What we’ve built together across Pluto TV, CBS All Access/Paramount+, and Network Streaming was never easy,” Hou wrote in the Slack message. “But we built these products from the ground up, in tough environments that didn’t necessarily believe in our vision, with limited resources and non-existent technology where we often had to build our own, and under constant pressure to deliver.”

Hou’s Slack message was received warmly, with 118 “care” emojis, 67 classic “red heart” emojis, and 43 “thank you” emojis, among other signals of support as of early Thursday afternoon.

Since Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison took over in early August, he’s made several noteworthy moves, like landing UFC rights in the US and hiring Bari Weiss to lead CBS News.

Ellison is now focused on buying Warner Bros. Discovery, which has rejected its takeover offer eight times.

Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read Hou’s Slack message to colleagues announcing the move:

@channel Team,

As Dane shared in his note, I’ll be transitioning out of my role and leaving the company at the end of January. After nearly 12 years of exhilarating work pushing our businesses to new heights, it feels like the right time to hand the torch to the next wave of leaders while I take a much-needed pause to rest, focus on my health (including some serious marathon training), and spend more time with my family before I jump into whatever comes next.

What we’ve built together across Pluto TV, CBS All Access/Paramount+, and Network Streaming was never easy — but we built these products from the ground up, in tough environments that didn’t necessarily believe in our vision, with limited resources and non-existent technology where we often had to build our own, and under constant pressure to deliver. Yet again and again, this team showed grit, creativity, and passion. Whether you came from Pluto or another part of Streaming, the story is the same: we took on impossible problems and innovated our way through.

The culture we live — being curious about everything, feeling that hunger to solve problems, caring deeply for others, iterating constantly, and innovating in everything we do — belongs to all of you now. You should be proud of what you’ve achieved, and you should be confident that this is a team that can handle anything thrown its way.

As to the future, I have a lot of confidence in Dane and the vision and strategic pillars he’s laid out for the year ahead. They set a strong foundation for where this organization can go over the next several years, and I’m excited to see what you all do together under his leadership.

I plan to hold my last open office hours next Friday so anyone who wants to drop in, ask questions, or just say hello/goodbye has a space to do that together. In the meantime, if you’d like to stay in touch beyond my time here, please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Serving alongside you has been one of the great privileges of my life, and I’ll be proudly cheering you on as you write the next chapter together.

Boldly go, always. ❤️

Vibol




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