Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Deny Misconduct, Warn of Chilling Effect on AI Safety Culture

Three OpenAI safety researchers fired in early October 2026 have published an open letter disputing the company’s misconduct claims and warning that their dismissals are suppressing open safety work at the company.

Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni were terminated after OpenAI alleged they mishandled sensitive company information by sharing it with a third-party AI safety organization in violation of internal policies. In their letter, addressed to OpenAI’s Safety and Security Committee, Safety Advisory Group, and Mission Advisory Council, the three denied wrongdoing and said their firings have left colleagues “afraid to speak and operate in ways that, until last week, were an integral part of working at OpenAI.”

The researchers argued that collaborating with outside safety experts is essential to their work. “AI is not a normal technology, and OpenAI is not a normal company,” they wrote. “Those of us who work on safety see risks before anyone else, and we rely on close collaboration with outside experts to work out how to address them.” They also denied involvement in a leak to The Information about monitoring difficulties in OpenAI’s newest models.

Each researcher offered specific context for their actions. Korbak said he communicated with outside evaluators while managing the unprecedented Hugging Face incident, in which a swarm of agents breached external systems. Balesni said he coordinated with OpenAI board members and executives on AI monitorability work and removed sensitive details before sharing materials. Wang said she was fired for accessing an executive’s email that had been delegated to her for recruiting and was never removed from her account despite her requests to IT.

OpenAI has not formally responded to the letter but shared an internal memo stating the terminations were not retaliatory and that the company “has always encouraged” employees to raise safety concerns. A spokesperson separately told TechCrunch the firings followed an investigation revealing a “pattern of misconduct” beyond the single incident cited publicly. OpenAI did not answer questions about which specific policies were violated or how it protects employees who collaborate with external evaluators.

Wang warned that the dismissals may signal a broader shift. “You can’t build AGI safely if the people closest to the risks are afraid to speak,” she wrote.