Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Deny Misconduct, Warn of Chilling Effect

Three OpenAI safety researchers fired last week have published an open letter denying the company's claims that they mishandled sensitive information. Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni say their dismissals are chilling open culture at OpenAI and making colleagues afraid to collaborate with outside experts. They deny leaking information about OpenAI's models and say their external communications were within company norms at the time. OpenAI has not formally responded but shared an internal memo denying the firings were retaliatory, while a spokesperson cited a pattern of misconduct beyond sharing information with an outside AI evaluation group.