Artificial Intelligence

Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Dispute Misconduct Claims

The three safety researchers dismissed by OpenAI last week have disputed allegations of mishandling sensitive information, publishing an open letter that warns of a growing chilling effect on the company's internal safety culture.

Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer

Published: October 9, 2026 · Updated: October 9, 2026 · 3 min read

Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Dispute Misconduct Claims — Image: TechCrunch

Open Letter Disutes Dismissal Rationale

Three safety researchers who were fired last week have published an open letter challenging OpenAI's assertions that they mishandled sensitive information outside of established corporate procedures. Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni warned in their statement that their abrupt dismissals are creating a chilling effect that will negatively impact the company's overall AI safety culture.

The open letter was addressed directly to OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee, Safety Advisory Group, and Mission Advisory Council. In the document, the authors expressed concern that internal and external reactions to their firings have made remaining colleagues hesitant to operate in ways that were previously standard practice at OpenAI.

Context Surrounding AI Safety and External Collaboration

In their joint statement, Wang, Korbak, and Balesni emphasized that artificial intelligence is an exceptional technology requiring unique oversight mechanisms. They argued that safety workers often identify risks ahead of others and must rely on close collaboration with outside experts to address vulnerabilities properly. Furthermore, the researchers specifically denied involvement in a recent media leak concerning less monitorable architectures that complicate the monitoring of chain-of-thought reasoning in new models.

The letter also touches upon the researchers' handling of previous security incidents, including the Hugging Face incident in which automated agents breached external systems. The authors noted that internal policies were being developed dynamically during that unprecedented event, leading Korbak to coordinate closely with external evaluators to build trust in good faith.

OpenAI Response and Internal Memo

Although OpenAI has not issued a formal public response to the open letter itself, the company shared an internal memo with media outlets attributed to a research leader. The memo praised the three researchers for their prior contributions to AI safety while explicitly denying that the terminations were enacted as retaliation for speaking out or raising concerns.

An OpenAI spokesperson additionally stated that the trio was dismissed following an investigation that uncovered a pattern of misconduct involving the mishandling of research information. According to the company, these violations extended beyond simple interactions with an external evaluation group, though OpenAI declined to clarify specific policy infractions.

Individual Accounts and Broader Industry Speculation

In a separate thread on X, Jasmine Wang elaborated on the circumstances surrounding her own termination, detailing an incident involving unrevoked access to an executive's email inbox that was originally granted for recruiting purposes. Wang stated that she promptly reported opening a sensitive email by mistake and requested that IT remove the access, maintaining that her actions were transparent throughout the process.

The departures have fueled ongoing speculation regarding governance and safety protocols within prominent artificial intelligence laboratories. The fired researchers ultimately urged OpenAI to uphold its public commitments to embed third-party safety auditors, preserve frontier model monitorability, and foster a transparent dialogue between safety professionals and the broader research ecosystem.