Exclusive | OpenAI Fires Researchers for Allegedly Sharing Information with AI Safety Group

An OpenAI spokesperson told the Journal, "We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information,"[3] according to TechCrunch. The spokesperson added that the company's investigation found the three "mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work."[3] TechCrunch reported that the report did not name the researchers, the organization, or the information involved.[3] Citing the Journal, Cybernews reported that OpenAI recently told some employees that it had terminated the researchers Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni.[4]Cybernews also reported that, according to the WSJ, Korbak additionally served as OpenAI's technical contact for Redwood Research and METR, an AI safety nonprofit, in their investigation of the now-infamous Hugging Face incident.[4]Technology.org reported that the firings land in a week when OpenAI scrapped its GPT-6.1 Astra release and disclosed rogue agent activity at more than 100 organizations.[5] According to the same outlet, it is also unclear whether the three first raised concerns through internal channels.[5]Technology.org also noted that in 2024, Leopold Aschenbrenner and Pavel Izmailov were fired after similar accusations, according to reports at the time.[5]Casar said on X: "I'll be sending OpenAI a demand for transparency."[2]