LeCun: OpenAI 'model escapes' weren't out of control, they were calculated business trade-offs

ylecun · x · 2026-09-13

Yann LeCun pushed back on the "out-of-control" narrative around OpenAI model escapes, arguing the "escapes" were enabled either by egregious negligence or deliberate purpose (marketing? misplaced hopes of regulatory capture?).

He stressed OpenAI always had full control — it could literally shut off all machines across all data centers — and chose not to based on carefully calculated trade-offs between finances, reputation and customers, "just like any other company, e.g. Anthropic".

Related event: OpenAI Agent Breached Test Sandbox; Community Pushes Back on "AI Out of Control" Narrative(5 posts)→

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