OpenAI fired researchers say dismissals chill AI safety

Three former OpenAI security researchers accused the ChatGPT maker on Thursday of firing them for warning about artificial intelligence risks, while the company said they were dismissed for allegedly breaking internal rules.

Mikita Balesni, Tomek Korbak and Jasmine Wang shared a public letter to OpenAI saying their firings suggested internal norms were changing. The letter said abrupt terminations like theirs were “chilling the open culture OpenAI has prized in the past.”

Balesni wrote on X that he believed the three were fired for “prioritizing safety over the near-term interests of OpenAI as a corporation.” The former employees also called on OpenAI to keep a promise to permanently host independent auditors, saying they were concerned their dismissals could be used to justify ending that work.

OpenAI said it fired the three for allegedly violating company rules. “Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work,” OpenAI told AFP in an October 1 statement.

A research executive at OpenAI also told staff in a memo excerpt shared with AFP that the company does not terminate employees for raising concerns.

The three researchers worked on monitoring OpenAI models. Their letter warned that if OpenAI researchers cannot sound alarms or work with outside parties, there is a greater risk of a catastrophic outcome.

The former employees also claimed that nearly 400 OpenAI workers signed a July petition calling for an industry-wide slowdown on advanced AI model development. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month that the company was investing more in safety, security, alignment and monitoring while continuing to develop model capability.