Three former OpenAI employees—Mikita Balesni, Tomek Korbak, and Jasmine Wang—claim they were fired for raising safety concerns about artificial intelligence. Firing allegations surfaced on Thursday following their dismissals last week. The ex-employees argue that OpenAI’s termination of them will discourage others from discussing AI risks openly. In response to the accusations, OpenAI stated that the firings resulted from a significant breach of trust and mishandling of company information, not for raising safety concerns as alleged by the former staff.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Three former OpenAI employees say they have been fired due to their efforts to ensure the safety of artificial intelligence.
asserted
they → say → intelligence
Safety researchers Mikita Balesni, Tomek Korbak and Jasmine Wang levelled the accusations on Thursday after their dismissals last week.
asserted
researchers → level → dismissals
The trio warned of a “chilling” effect on other staff concerned about the frontier technology’s risks.
asserted
trio → warn → risks
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OpenAI said they were let go due to misconduct involving the mishandling of company information.
asserted
they → spark → information
“I believe we were fired for prioritizing safety over the near-term interests of OpenAI as a corporation,” Balesni said in a post on X.
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”.
asserted
they → believe → tools
In an open letter published in tandem with their social media posts, Balesni, Korbak and Wang expressed concerns that their dismissal would make their former colleagues “afraid to speak and operate in ways that, until last week, were an integral part of working at OpenAI”.
asserted
that → publish → OpenAI
“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.
uncertain
they → raise → letter
“This is part of what made OpenAI special, and why we are immensely proud to have been part of the team.”
asserted
we → make → team
The three added that “if the people closest to the risks can no longer work in high-trust, high-bandwidth ways with each other and with third parties”, then AI could not be developed safely.
uncertain
AI → add → parties
“It is that culture we are writing to defend,” they stated.
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they → write → ?
The trio denied violating company policy, saying any engagement with external safety experts had been in line with the mandate of their roles.
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engagement → deny → roles
“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.
uncertain
they → give → accountability
“Terminations such as ours, executed and communicated so abruptly, are chilling the open culture OpenAI has prized in the past.”
asserted
OpenAI → execute → past
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.
asserted
it → say → them
“We want to be very clear that these decisions were not about raising safety concerns or speaking out,” the San Francisco-based company said.
asserted
company → want → concerns
“Safety and research debates happen every day at OpenAI, often spirited and highly critical.
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debates → happen → OpenAI
We actively encourage these discussions and consider them essential to making the right decisions.
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them → encourage → decisions
We cannot do the work in front of us without a high degree of trust.
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We → do → trust
We will continue to be extremely forgiving of our team making good-faith mistakes.”
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We → continue → mistakes
OpenAI added that it was saddened by the outcome.
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it → add → outcome
“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.
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company → appreciate → ideas
“We championed their voices, supported their work, and placed enormous trust in them.
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We → champion → them
These decisions were not about them raising safety concerns.
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them → raise → concerns
We have always encouraged that and always will.”
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.
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technology → encourage → harm
The risk of cutting-edge AI models escaping human control has been in the spotlight since July when it emerged that autonomous agents generated by OpenAI had hacked the software start-up Hugging Face.
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agents → escape → up
OpenAI and its chief rival, Anthropic, have urged the international community to work together on a coordinated slowdown in AI development.
However, that suggestion has been rebuffed by the two leading AI powers, the United States and China.
asserted
suggestion → urge → powers
Last month, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, SpaceXAI and Nvidia endorsed a voluntary accord calling for stronger internal safeguards and the engagement of external auditors to better manage safety risks.
asserted
OpenAI → endorse → risks
The accord, announced by US President Donald Trump, drew a mixed response from AI safety advocates, many of whom criticised its nonbinding nature.
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many → announce → nature
OpenAI has announced a number of steps to mitigate risks in the absence of formal regulation, including scrapping the planned release of its latest-generation model, GPT-6.1 Astra.
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OpenAI → announce → model
The ChatGPT creator said it decided not to go ahead with the release after its model failed to meet company standards for acting in accordance with human wishes.
asserted
model → say → wishes
The Aporia
