Fired OpenAI researchers say they were let go for 'prioritising safety'

Three former OpenAI researchers who were fired have alleged they were let go because they prioritized safety over the company's interests. Mikita Balesni, Tomek Korbak and Jasmine Wang claim they were fired for raising safety concerns at the company. In an open letter to OpenAI, the trio wrote that the dismissals "made employees afraid to speak and operate in ways that, until last week, were an integral part of working at OpenAI."

OpenAI responded by stating that the investigation confirmed the researchers had mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures. The company added that their internal investigation revealed a breach of trust beyond what was mentioned in the open letter. OpenAI reiterated that the decisions were not related to raising safety concerns or speaking out. The dismissals come during a growing debate over AI safety and potential risks advanced AI systems could pose to society.

The three researchers were once safety or alignment employees at OpenAI. Alignment refers to building human ethical ideas and principles into the technology. Korbak had been raising safety concerns that they were losing the ability to monitor what AI agents think, one of their best tools for catching when they misbehave. Korbak wrote, "I believe that was why I was fired."

OpenAI said it was finalizing contracts with third-party safety assessors and would announce details in the coming weeks. Wang posted on X, expressing concern that they would not be the last to be pushed out under suspicious circumstances unless employees take a stand against such maneuvers.