Calvin French-Owen, a former OpenAI employee from May 2024 to June 2025, revealed in a blog post published on Tuesday, July 15, that the company operates with minimal email usage, relying heavily on Slack for communication, reported NDTV.

"An unusual part of OpenAI is that everything, and I mean everything, runs on Slack," he wrote. "There is no email. I may have received 10 emails in my entire time there. If you aren't organised, you will find this incredibly distracting," he added, noting that while Slack can be "incredibly distracting," and is "pretty workable" with careful management of channels and notifications.

Fast-paced culture
French-Owen described OpenAI’s work environment as fast-paced and bottom-up, particularly in the research area. "OpenAI is incredibly bottoms-up, especially in research... Rather than a grand 'master plan', progress is iterative and uncovered as new research bears fruit," he said. 

Rapid company growth
During his 14-month tenure, French-Owen witnessed significant growth at OpenAI.

"There were just over 1,000 employees at the company when he started, and after a year, it had surpassed 3,000," with French-Owen ranking among the top 30% by tenure. He noted, "Nearly everyone in leadership is doing a drastically different job than they were 2-3 years ago," reflecting the company’s rapid evolution.

Emphasis on security measures
Addressing security concerns, French-Owen refuted claims of carelessness at OpenAI. He highlighted the company’s focus on practical risks, including political bias, hate speech, and prompt injection, alongside long-term risk considerations, emphasising a proactive approach to safeguarding operations.

Reasons for departure
French-Owen, a former start-up founder whose company, Segment, was acquired by Twilio, clarified that he left OpenAI due to exhaustion and a desire to lead rather than follow, not due to any internal drama. Despite feeling "deep conflict" about his departure, he expressed gratitude for being part of the elite team developing Codex, OpenAI’s advanced software engineering agent, stating he felt "lucky" for the opportunity.