I'm doing a remote internship for a tech startup in Southeast Asia, working about 20 hours a week. I was assigned an industrial AI project but received almost no documentation, project plan, or technical guidance—just a few reference links and instructions to add similar content to the company website.
I paid for an AI subscription myself because the company did not provide one. The subscription costs around $30, while I received only about $10 toward internet and mobile expenses during my first month. I completed the initial version within a week and was preparing to begin user testing when they gave me another website to use as a reference and asked for several larger changes. Those rushed additions introduced bugs, so I suggested fixing them and starting testing the following week. Instead, they gave me a final warning.
The code is stored in my personal repository, although it was created for the company during the internship. My offer letter does not clearly mention ownership of the code. If they terminate me, am I allowed to delete the repository, or could that create legal problems? What should I do now?
3 Answers
Treat the final warning seriously, but don’t panic or retaliate. Don’t delete, sabotage, lock, or withhold the project. Instead, preserve the evidence, ask for a formal handover process, and submit a clear status report. If they fire you, request the reason and any final payment in writing, then get advice from a labor authority or qualified lawyer in the country governing your agreement.
Do not delete or destroy the code. Even if it is in your personal repository, it was created for the company as part of your internship, so they may have ownership rights under local law or an implied work agreement. Deleting it could be treated as intentional loss of company property and could create much bigger problems for you.
Make a safe, private backup of the current state, keep records of instructions and warnings, and avoid making further changes without written clarification. Ask them where the official company repository is and request that they provide access or create one. You should also have a local employment or contract lawyer review the offer letter and applicable law, since ownership rules vary by country.
The working arrangement has several warning signs: unclear requirements, no documentation, last-minute scope changes, personal expenses, and very little compensation. AI can speed up development, but generated code still needs review and testing, especially for an industrial project. That said, changing the requirements at the last minute makes the bugs a management and planning issue too.
Respond professionally in writing. Summarize what you completed, list the newly requested changes and known bugs, explain what remains before testing, and ask them to prioritize the work. Keep copies of those communications. Also start looking for another internship or job, and check whether the internship meets local minimum-pay and labor requirements.
If they approved using the AI tool, document that approval and the fact that you paid for it yourself. Do not assume that approval removes your responsibility for testing, but it is useful evidence when discussing expenses and expectations.
The absence of an explicit clause does not automatically mean the code belongs to you. The fact that you were assigned the work and created it for the company will likely matter more than where the files are hosted.