Fired OpenAI safety researcher publishes letter to board over 'suspicious' terminations
j_asminewang · x · 2026-10-09
OpenAI safety team member jasminewang (intern in 2019, returned 2025) published a joint letter with Tom Korbak and Maria Balesni to OpenAI's board and safety leadership, detailing her firing.
She co-led the safety cases program, coined "pacing" backed by a 394-colleague petition, pushed for independent legal review of the DoW contract, worked toward a multilab commitment on opaque architectures, and launched the alignment blog — then was fired, supposedly over an inbox IT never removed.
Key claims: the stated reasons "don't add up" and vague rumors are being spread internally to discredit the fired staff; she demands a complete written list of allegations. She warns that raising concerns or working with outside safety groups could get anyone fired, and urges AG Bonta, Kathy Jennings and the public to hold OpenAI to Sam Altman's Sept 12 promise of employee-level access for outside evaluators like METR. OpenAI leadership says it strongly agrees with the letter; she remains open to helping fix the process.
Related event: OpenAI Fires Three Safety Researchers Who Push Back in Open Letter(48 posts)→
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