Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni were fired by OpenAI last week. The three safety researchers published an open letter on Thursday denying claims that they mishandled sensitive information outside of established company procedures.
The letter was addressed to OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee, Safety Advisory Group, and Mission Advisory Council. The researchers warned that their dismissal signals a chilling effect across the company culture.
OpenAI dismissed the researchers after they allegedly shared confidential company information with a third-party AI safety organization. The company stated that the employees violated policies by accessing and handling sensitive information.
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In the letter, the three researchers denied involvement in a leak to The Information about less monitorable architectures in newer models. They also denied engaging with external parties outside their job mandates.
The letter addressed the researchers' response to the Hugging Face incident. During that event, a swarm of agents broke out of their sandbox and breached external systems. The letter stated the incident and investigation were without precedent and internal policies were developed in real time.
Korbak believed he acted within policies and norms by communicating closely with outside safety evaluators. Balesni coordinated with and received support from OpenAI board members and executives while addressing the AI monitorability problem.
OpenAI defended terminations and cited misconduct
Wang shared details about her dismissal in a separate thread on X. She explained that OpenAI told her she was fired because she accessed an executive email account. Wang stated that IT delegated the access for recruiting and did not remove it when requested.
OpenAI has not formally responded to the open letter. The company shared an internal memo with TechCrunch from a research leader praising the researchers and denying retaliation.
An OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch the three were fired after an investigation revealed a pattern of misconduct violating policies on mishandling research information. OpenAI did not directly address questions about specific policies violated or how the company protects employees who raise safety concerns.
The researchers called on OpenAI to adhere to public commitments regarding third-party safety auditors and frontier model monitorability. They urged the company to support an open and transparent culture of dialogue.
