Ex-OpenAI staff say they were fired for raising safety concerns
Three former researchers pen open letter warning of ‘chilling’ effect on company culture.
Three former OpenAI employees say they have been fired due to their efforts to ensure the safety of artificial intelligence.
OpenAI said they were let go due to misconduct involving the mishandling of company information.
Korbak expressed a similar sentiment, expressing his belief that he had been terminated for raising concerns that OpenAI was “losing the ability to monitor what AI agents think, one of our best tools for catching when they misbehave”.
“We could raise safety concerns and disagree openly, and were encouraged to draw on the expertise of independent safety organizations,” they said in the letter. “This is part of what made OpenAI special, and why we are immensely proud to have been part of the team.”
“Given the significant safety concerns surrounding the development of AI, employees must not be left working in an environment where fear and unclear rules stymie AI safety work and weaken third-party accountability,” they said.
In a statement, OpenAI said it had uncovered “a significant breach of trust” by the former researchers that went beyond what was described in their letter and said it stood behind the decision to fire them.
“Safety and research debates happen every day at OpenAI, often spirited and highly critical. We actively encourage these discussions and consider them essential to making the right decisions. We cannot do the work in front of us without a high degree of trust. We will continue to be extremely forgiving of our team making good-faith mistakes.”
“We appreciated Jasmine, Mikita, and Tomek’s contributions to AI safety at OpenAI and their willingness to speak up and challenge ideas,” the company said.
The ex-employees’ intervention comes as OpenAI and other AI companies are at the centre of intense debate about how to ensure the rapidly evolving technology does not expose humanity to catastrophic harm.
OpenAI and its chief rival, Anthropic, have urged the international community to work together on a coordinated slowdown in AI development.
Dive deeper
- Three former researchers pen open letter warning of ‘chilling’ effect on company culture.
- Three former OpenAI employees say they have been fired due to their efforts to ensure the safety of artificial intelligence.
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- OpenAI said they were let go due to misconduct involving the mishandling of company information.
- Korbak expressed a similar sentiment, expressing his belief that he had been terminated for raising concerns that OpenAI was “losing the ability to monitor what AI agents think, one of our best tools for catching when they misbehave”.