October 11, 2026: OpenAI and three former safety researchers have entered a public dispute over their dismissals, with the ChatGPT maker saying the employees were fired for a “significant breach of trust” while the researchers argue their safety work played a role in the decision.
The dispute involves Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak and Mikita Balesni, who were dismissed after an internal investigation by OpenAI.
The three researchers later published an open letter challenging the company’s account and warning that their abrupt dismissals could discourage other employees from speaking openly about AI safety concerns.
Researchers Say Firings Could Chill Safety Debate
In their letter, the former employees said the episode could create uncertainty among colleagues and weaken a culture in which researchers had previously been able to raise safety concerns and work with outside organisations.
Balesni separately wrote on X that he believed the researchers had been fired for “prioritizing safety over the near-term interests of OpenAI as a corporation.”
Korbak also said he had been told verbally that his dismissal related to the way he communicated with external safety organisation METR, adding that working with such organisations had been part of his role.
OpenAI Rejects Safety-Retaliation Allegation
OpenAI rejected the suggestion that the researchers were dismissed for raising safety concerns.
The company said an internal investigation found that the three had violated policies governing the handling of sensitive information and described the matter as a “significant breach of trust.”
OpenAI has not publicly disclosed the full details of the alleged violations.
The company said it normally keeps individual employment matters private but decided to respond publicly because of the issues raised in the researchers’ letter.
OpenAI also said it does not terminate employees for raising concerns and maintained that robust internal debate over product safety, research and risk remains encouraged.
Both Sides Give Different Accounts of Firings
The disagreement has left sharply different accounts of why the researchers were dismissed.
The former employees say their work required communication with third-party safety organisations and argue that their actions were consistent with their responsibilities.
OpenAI, however, says the dismissals followed violations involving sensitive company information and were unrelated to the researchers’ views on AI safety.
The company has so far declined to provide detailed public information about the specific conduct that led to the terminations.
Dispute Renews Focus on AI Safety Culture
The controversy comes as major artificial intelligence companies face growing scrutiny over how they manage safety research, internal dissent and the risks associated with increasingly capable AI systems.
The OpenAI dispute has also brought renewed attention to the relationship between AI developers and independent safety organisations that evaluate advanced models.
For now, the central disagreement remains unresolved: the researchers believe their safety-related activities contributed to their dismissals, while OpenAI insists the decisions were based on violations of company rules and a breakdown of trust.