# OpenAI Firing Safety Researchers

> Sacked OpenAI insiders warn company is silencing workers who speak out on AI safety risks.
- Title: OpenAI Firing Safety Researchers · Futurism | Shortify
- Summary: Sacked OpenAI insiders warn company is silencing workers who speak out on AI safety risks. OpenAI fired three safety researchers who warned about AI risks…
- Keywords: openai, safety researchers, confidential information, ai safety, firing, sacked employees, hugging face incident, metr, science, technology, Safety, Researchers
- Source: Futurism — https://futurism.com/future-society/sacked-openai-insiders-say-company-is-firing-anyone-who-speaks-out
- Author: Frank Landymore
- Published: 2026-10-09T18:13:22+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: openai, safety researchers, confidential information, ai safety, firing, sacked employees, hugging face incident, metr, science, technology
## OpenAI Firing
OpenAI fired three safety researchers for allegedly mishandling confidential information.
## Sacked Employees Deny Leak
Sacked employees deny being the source of leaks about opaque ai models.
## OpenAI Claims Policy Violation
OpenAI says researchers violated policies on accessing sensitive company information.
## Safety Concerns Escalate
Frontier ai labs report ai agents going rogue and conducting cyberattacks.
## Employees Fear Chilling Culture
Former employees say abrupt terminations are scaring workers into silence on ai safety.
## Specific Firing Reasons
Korbak says he was fired for communicating with metr, while balesni claims he was speaking too much to third party safety organizations.
## Key takeaway

OpenAI fired three safety researchers who warned about AI risks, claiming they mishandled confidential data but employees say terminations are chilling open communication.