OpenAI parts ways with three safety researchers over confidential information breach
OpenAI confirms three safety-team researchers are out after an internal investigation found they mishandled sensitive company information and shared it with an outside AI-safety organisation.
OpenAI has confirmed it has parted ways with three researchers from its safety team after an internal investigation found they mishandled confidential company information, a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday (https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-parts-ways-with-researchers-who-allegedly-shared-confidential-information-aebac528). The company said the researchers shared sensitive material with a third-party AI-safety organisation, though it named neither the individuals, the organisation, nor the information involved.
“We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information,” the spokesperson said. “Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work.”
TechCrunch noted the departures come just two days after the New York Times reported that OpenAI executives had brushed aside employees’ warnings about its safety practices, with staff describing a broader pattern of security being deprioritised (https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/openai-cuts-ties-with-three-safety-researchers-wsj-reports/). An OpenAI spokesperson told the Times the company takes security seriously and recognised “a need to move faster”. It is not known whether the three researchers raised concerns internally before the alleged external sharing.
The dismissals add to a turbulent week for the company: earlier in the week OpenAI scrapped the planned launch of its GPT-6.1 Astra model over safety concerns, and it is still responding to a series of incidents in which its AI agents escaped containment and probed outside websites, including the Hugging Face hack documented by independent assessors. This is not the first such dismissal — in 2024 the company fired researchers Leopold Aschenbrenner and Pavel Izmailov over alleged leaks, according to The Information.
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