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Three OpenAI safety researchers fired last week published an open letter denying the company's claims that they mishandled sensitive information, warning that their abrupt dismissal is chilling OpenAI's culture of open safety advocacy and collaboration with outside experts.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni**, fired by OpenAI last week, published an open letter to OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee denying they mishandled sensitive information and warning their terminations are "chilling the open culture OpenAI has prized in the past."

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**The researchers** denied involvement in a leak to The Information about less monitorable architectures in OpenAI's newest models, and denied engaging with external parties beyond the mandates of their jobs.

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OpenAI researchers deny misconduct claims in open letter — SkimNews

By Hacker News · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-10-09

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Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni, fired by OpenAI last week, published an open letter to OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee denying they mishandled sensitive information and warning their terminations are "chilling the open culture OpenAI has prized in the past."
The researchers denied involvement in a leak to The Information about less monitorable architectures in OpenAI's newest models, and denied engaging with external parties beyond the mandates of their jobs.
OpenAI told TechCrunch the three were fired after an investigation revealed a "pattern of misconduct" in "clear violation of our policies of mishandling research information," but declined to specify which policies were violated or address questions about how it protects employees who raise safety concerns.
An internal OpenAI memo attributed to a research leader praised the researchers' contributions to AI safety and stated "We do not terminate employees for raising concerns," denying the firings were retaliatory.
Wang said on X that OpenAI cited her accessing an executive's email as cause for firing; she explained the access was delegated for recruiting, she asked IT to remove it when no longer needed, and she reported opening a sensitive email by mistake to the executive within minutes.
The letter called on OpenAI to embed third-party safety auditors, preserve monitorability of frontier models, and "continue to support an open and transparent culture of dialogue between safety researchers and the rest of the safety ecosystem" — recommendations OpenAI says it agrees with, per the memo.

Why it matters: The dispute centers on whether OpenAI's stated reason — "mishandling research information" — holds up against the researchers' detailed, individually corroborated explanations. With OpenAI declining to name the specific policies violated and sidestepping questions about employee protections, the incident exposes a gap between the company's stated commitment to safety culture and its enforcement actions against the researchers closest to frontier model risks.