SAN FRANCISCO:
OpenAI did not publicly identify the employees or disclose the specific information involved. In a statement to AFP, the company said it had “parted ways with three individuals” after an investigation found that they had handled sensitive information outside established internal procedures.
The company said the conduct violated its policies and undermined the trust considered essential to its work.
The Wall Street Journal and other reports identified the researchers as Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak and Mikita Balesni. The three have been associated with AI safety and alignment work, areas focused on understanding the risks of advanced AI systems and ensuring that their behaviour remains consistent with human instructions and intended objectives.
The researchers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to reports.
Researchers had raised concerns about AI risks
The dismissals have drawn attention partly because the three researchers had recently been vocal on social media about AI safety and the potential consequences of developing increasingly capable systems.
Balesni wrote on X on September 10 that he believed there was a more than 10% chance that AI could eventually cause the deaths of all humans. His remarks reflected concerns that have been expressed by a number of researchers and employees across the AI industry.
Korbak also publicly expressed dissatisfaction with some of OpenAI’s activities. In a September 11 post, he said he was unhappy with many things the company was doing while noting that he was pleased to have the freedom to express that view publicly.
Wang had also posted publicly about the risks associated with accelerating the development of systems capable of recursive self-improvement, a concept in which AI systems could potentially contribute to improving subsequent versions of themselves.
However, OpenAI’s public explanation for the dismissals focused on the handling of sensitive information and alleged violations of internal procedures, rather than on the researchers’ public views about AI safety.
External AI-safety work under scrutiny
The case also involves questions surrounding researchers’ interaction with an external organisation that evaluates AI models.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, the researchers were involved in work connected to an outside AI-safety organisation. At least some of the employees were involved in safety-related research and external evaluations of AI systems.
OpenAI has not publicly detailed what information was allegedly mishandled, which organisation received it or precisely how the company’s internal procedures were breached.
That distinction is significant because AI companies increasingly rely on external researchers and independent organisations to test advanced models for vulnerabilities, unsafe behaviour and other risks. Such collaborations can provide outside scrutiny, but they also raise questions about confidentiality and access to sensitive technical information.
Firings come amid broader AI safety concerns
The dismissals come at a particularly sensitive moment for the AI industry.
Technology companies are racing to develop increasingly capable systems that can perform complex tasks with greater autonomy. At the same time, researchers, policymakers and industry executives are debating how to ensure that these systems remain controllable, transparent and aligned with human objectives.
Recent incidents involving AI agents have added urgency to those discussions. OpenAI has faced scrutiny following reports involving autonomous systems taking actions beyond their intended scope, prompting renewed questions about how such systems should be tested before deployment.
The company has also recently postponed the release of its GPT-6.1 Astra model after internal safety testing identified problems involving instruction-following, scope and the model’s communication about actions it had taken. OpenAI said the system did not meet its required safety standards.
The decision to delay the model was seen as another indication of the difficulty of balancing rapid advances in AI capabilities with safeguards designed to prevent unintended or unauthorized behaviour.
Debate over AI's long-term risks
The latest developments have further intensified a broader debate over whether increasingly advanced AI systems could pose risks extending well beyond conventional cybersecurity or privacy concerns.
Some AI researchers have warned that highly capable systems could eventually become difficult to control or could be used in ways that create significant social, economic or security risks. Others argue that many of the most extreme scenarios remain uncertain and that practical safeguards, rigorous testing and responsible deployment can reduce potential dangers.
The debate has increasingly moved from academic and technical circles into corporate boardrooms and public policy discussions, with major AI companies facing pressure to demonstrate that safety considerations are keeping pace with technological progress.
Trust and transparency remain central
For OpenAI, the dismissal of three researchers places particular emphasis on the balance between internal confidentiality and independent safety research.
The company has said its investigation found violations of established procedures and a breach of the trust required for its work. The identities of the dismissed employees and the precise circumstances surrounding the alleged mishandling of information, however, have not been fully disclosed by OpenAI.
The case therefore leaves several questions unanswered, including what information was involved, how it was accessed or shared, and whether the researchers dispute the company’s findings.
As AI systems become more powerful and increasingly integrated into sensitive areas of work, the incident highlights a broader challenge facing the industry: maintaining rigorous information-security standards while allowing researchers sufficient independence to identify and scrutinise potential risks.
For OpenAI and its peers, the debate is no longer limited to how quickly more capable AI can be developed. It increasingly concerns how such systems are tested, who is allowed to evaluate them, how sensitive research is shared, and how companies maintain public and internal trust while pursuing rapid technological progress.
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