OpenAI stands by its decision to fire three AI safety researchers

OpenAI posted on X, standing by its decision to fire three safety researchers—Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni—saying an internal investigation found they violated clear policies on handling sensitive information, constituting a significant breach of trust, and emphasizing that the firings were unrelated to the three publicly discussing concerns about the company and AI safety. This statement directly responds to an open letter the three published the day before, in which they demanded OpenAI increase transparency about its decisions and said they were fired for raising safety concerns, and that their actions were consistent with OpenAI's mission and the work norms at the time. OpenAI said the violations found in the internal investigation went beyond what was described in the open letter, but did not provide details. The report noted that after several high-profile safety incidents this year, frontier system safety has become a focus for AI company employees, with many calling on companies to slow down and strengthen precautions against the potential consequences of building self-improving systems.