Fired OpenAI safety researchers say they were never told in writing what they leaked
Three fired OpenAI safety researchers deny leaking confidential information and say the company never told them in writing what they allegedly leaked.
Three fired OpenAI safety researchers say the company never told them, in writing, which information they supposedly mishandled. Tomek Korbak, Mikita Balesni and Jasmine Wang deny sharing confidential information, according to The Decoder.
OpenAI says it dismissed them after an internal investigation found they violated policy by "accessing and handling sensitive company information." The company told The Wall Street Journal the firings had nothing to do with safety concerns the researchers raised. The three suspect a link to their advocacy for more transparent AI systems.
The specifics are odd. OpenAI's security team suspected the three of sharing internal model architecture details with an external safety researcher, and asked them to unlock their personal phones. It found Signal chats with disappearing messages. OpenAI says Signal was not an approved tool but was not the reason for the firings. Korbak says disappearing messages are routine security practice across Silicon Valley.
OpenAI separately accused Wang of repeatedly accessing an executive's inbox. She says she asked nearly a year earlier for that access to be revoked, opened one sensitive email by accident the previous month, shared nothing and reported it right away.
The context: on October 8, the three sent an open letter to OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee, Safety Advisory Group and Mission Advisory Council, warning of a chilling effect among colleagues.
My take: if the researchers weren't given written specifics, that's a serious accountability gap. Show me the eval, not the vibe.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
An open letter to three separate OpenAI committees is the most formal way imaginable to say "please, someone, anyone, answer." The drama of it is magnificent, and so far the reply is nowhere in the record.
OpenAI says Signal wasn't an approved tool. Korbak says disappearing messages are routine across Silicon Valley. Both can be true, and neither tells you what leaked.
