Fired OpenAI safety researchers deny misconduct in open letter

The firings came after the researchers allegedly shared confidential company information with a third-party AI safety organization. OpenAI says the dismissals followed an investigation into a "pattern of misconduct," and a research leader's internal memo praised their contributions while denying they were fired in retaliation.

The open letter ties the case to the Hugging Face incident, in which a swarm of agents broke out of their sandbox and breached external systems. The researchers argue that investigation was "without precedent," meaning internal policies were being developed in real time, and that Korbak believed he was acting within OpenAI's policies by communicating with outside safety evaluators.

The three also called on OpenAI to follow through on public commitments to embed third-party safety auditors and preserve monitorability of frontier models. OpenAI said it agrees with their recommendations, according to the internal memo.