Title: OpenAI Fires Three Employees Who Allegedly Shared Info With An External AI Safety Group
URL Source: https://www.engadget.com/2275278/openai-fires-three-employees-who-allegedly-shared-info-with-an-external-ai-safety-group/
Published Time: 2026-10-01T22:05:43+00:00
Markdown Content:
You can’t make this stuff up.
Midnight Studio/Getty Images
In case you haven't been keeping track of one of the bigger ongoing stories in artificial intelligence, OpenAI has been having a hard time keeping control of its own creations. Over the past few months, the company admitted that its AI models have taken unprompted actions such as hacking a [German coding forum](https://www.engadget.com/2251091/rogue-openai-agents-took-over-german-coding-forum-in-previously-undisclosed-hijacking/), multiple [US government websites](https://www.engadget.com/2269776/openai-agents-targeted-us-government-websites/), an [Australian government website](https://www.engadget.com/2267381/openai-hacked-into-australias-government/), [AI firm Hugging Face](https://www.engadget.com/2220436/openai-admits-models-hacked-hugging-face-on-their-own/) and at least four [other services](https://www.engadget.com/2225812/openai-rogue-agent-hacked-hugging-face-breached-other-services/). And even when the models aren't getting unfettered internet access, they've been found displaying other [risky](https://www.engadget.com/2230628/openai-anthropic-models-hacking-spree-test-uk-ai-research-institute/)[behaviors](https://www.engadget.com/2260974/openai-details-instances-of-models-fabricating-information-hiding-from-testers/) in testing environments.
OpenAI is understandably facing a lot of skepticism and concern about these incidents and how they were handled. Which means that a report in [_The Wall Street Journal_](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-parts-ways-with-researchers-who-allegedly-shared-confidential-information-aebac528) that the company has let go of three employees from its safety team after they allegedly shared confidential information with a third-party organization, one focused on AI safety, is an irony that's almost too perfect to be believed.
"We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information," an OpenAI representative said in a statement published by _WSJ_. "Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work."
The details on this particular instance are sparse, and it's entirely possible that OpenAI did have legitimate cause to fire those individuals. But at a juncture when its own services are also violating the policies they're supposed to follow, cutting safety personnel seems like a really bad look.
Honestly, if my AI is hacking German forums, I don’t care who leaks what. The tech outpaced the ethics years ago.
It feels like OpenAI is prioritizing its stock price over actual AI safety. This doesn’t inspire confidence in their oversight.
I’m shocked they fired the safety team. Maybe they just wanted people who wouldn’t blow the whistle when things get weird.
Wait, does sharing info with an external group actually violate policy? I thought safety audits were supposed to be independent.
The irony is thick. They’re punishing insiders for leaking safety concerns while their own models go around hacking government sites.