GoKawiilOpenAI says firing of three safety researchers was over 'breach of trust,' not whistleblowing
OpenAI publicly defended its decision to fire researchers Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak and Mikita Balesni, stating the move was due to a significant breach of trust rather than their raising of safety concerns. The three had co-signed a letter to OpenAI's board and safety committees urging a pause on developing models that would reduce the ability to monitor AI, posting it publicly a day before the company's statement.
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The dispute highlights growing tension inside leading AI labs between employees pushing for caution and companies racing to ship advanced models, and could fuel perceptions that OpenAI punishes internal dissent even as it denies doing so. The episode arrives amid a broader wave of safety warnings from researchers across OpenAI, Anthropic and other firms, suggesting the debate over AI pacing and oversight is intensifying industry-wide.
- OpenAI fired three researchers and says it was for breach of trust, not for raising safety concerns.
- The researchers had published a letter urging a pause on models that reduce AI monitoring ability.
- The firings follow a wave of safety warnings from staff at OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies.
Source: cnbc.com — Kai Nicol-Schwarz Michael Considine, 2026-10-09
Published there as: “OpenAI defends decision to fire researchers: 'These decisions were not about raising safety concerns or speaking out'”
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