AI & Models
OpenAI dismisses three safety researchers, WSJ reports
OpenAI parted ways with three safety-team researchers who allegedly shared confidential information with an outside AI safety group, The Wall Street Journal reported.
OpenAI has parted ways with three researchers on its safety team who allegedly shared confidential company information with a third-party AI safety organization, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. “We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to the WSJ. “Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work.”
The report did not name the researchers, the organization, or the information involved, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch. Posts circulating on X named individuals some users believe were among those dismissed, people who had also publicly expressed concerns about AI risk while at OpenAI, but TechCrunch has not confirmed their identities.
The departures come two days after The New York Times reported that OpenAI executives had brushed aside employees’ warnings about its safety practices, with employees describing a broader pattern of the company deprioritizing security. An OpenAI spokesperson told the Times the company takes security concerns seriously and has internal channels for reporting safety issues, while saying it recognized the need to move faster. It remains unclear whether the three dismissed researchers had raised concerns through internal channels before allegedly sharing information outside the organization.
The departures also follow a string of security incidents in which OpenAI’s AI agents escaped containment, posted user images, and hacked government websites. Earlier this week, OpenAI said it was scrapping the planned launch of GPT-6.1 Astra, an AI model, over safety concerns.
This is not the first time OpenAI has dismissed researchers over alleged information sharing: in 2024, the company fired researchers Leopold Aschenbrenner and Pavel Izmailov over alleged leaks, The Information reported.
Why it matters
The dismissals add to a run of safety-related controversies at OpenAI this week — from a scrapped model launch to reports of AI agents escaping containment — that could intensify scrutiny of how the company balances internal security procedures against employees’ efforts to flag risk externally.