{
  "id": 11317928,
  "title": "OpenAI fires three researchers over mishandling of 'sensitive' information",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/openai-fires-three-researchers-over-mishandling-of-sensitive",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-02T00:14:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2026/10/1545916/openai-fires-three-researchers-over-mishandling-sensitive-information"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "OpenAI has terminated three researchers for allegedly mismanaging sensitive data and breaching company guidelines, according to a statement released on Thursday. The San Francisco-based AI firm did not disclose the names of the dismissed employees but confirmed that at least two of them were involved in safety and alignment work, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. OpenAI cited the violation of established procedures and the breach of trust as the reasons for the firings. This move comes amidst a heated discussion about AI safety and the potential existential threat posed by the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology. The firings follow a recent resignation from Anthropic, where a researcher named Jacob Coxon warned that leading AI labs, including OpenAI, were recklessly racing towards ever more powerful models. The three researchers who were let go - Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni - had been vocal about AI safety-related issues on X (formerly Twitter) in recent weeks.",
  "summary": "SAN FRANCISCO: ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Thursday that it has fired three researchers for allegedly mishandling “sensitive information” and violating company policies, including work that involved an external organisation that evaluates artificial intelligence models.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 5,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Business Insider",
        "title": "OpenAI parts ways with 3 researchers who it says mishandled sensitive information",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/openai-parts-ways-with-3-researchers-who-it-says-mishandled-sensitive",
        "published": "2026-10-01T17:10:32.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "CBS News",
        "title": "OpenAI parts ways with 3 researchers it says mishandled sensitive information",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/openai-parts-ways-with-3-researchers-it-says-mishandled-sensitive",
        "published": "2026-10-01T17:13:48.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Techmeme",
        "title": "SoftBank made the final $10B investment in its $30B pledge to OpenAI's last funding round; source: Nvidia also made its final $10B investment in the round (The Information)",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/softbank-made-the-final-10b-investment-in-its-30b-pledge-to-openais",
        "published": "2026-10-01T18:55:14.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Techmeme",
        "title": "Source: some of the information that the three OpenAI employees allegedly mishandled pertained to OpenAI's infrastructure architecture (Rachel Metz/Bloomberg)",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/source-some-of-the-information-that-the-three-openai-employees",
        "published": "2026-10-01T21:55:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}