OpenAI fires three researchers, company confirms sacking; shares what investigations that led to termination revealed
Just this week, the company scrapped the planned launch of a new AI model, GPT-6.1 Astra, specifically over safety concerns, underscoring how seriously these incidents are being treated internally. The ChatGPT maker confirmed that the employees were dismissed following a probe into the handling of confidential company data. “Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has terminated three researchers from its safety team after an internal investigation concluded that they violated company policies governing access to and handling of sensitive information, according to a company statement and a Wall Street Journal report. “We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. The three researchers are Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak and Mikita Balesni, all of whom worked on safety and alignment-related efforts at the company, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Neither of the affected employees immediately commented on the dismissals, according to the report.
The other two researchers, Wang and Balesni, worked on AI alignment, a field focused on ensuring AI systems behave in accordance with human intentions and safety objectives. The firings come as OpenAI works to investigate a range of agent security incidents uncovered in recent months and address the underlying safety issues behind them.