OPENAI FIRES THREE EMPLOYEES OVER INFORMATION MISHANDLING

OpenAI has dismissed three employees after an internal investigation found they had mishandled sensitive company information, the firm has confirmed. At least two of those dismissed had worked on safety research at OpenAI, and the case involved material shared with an external organisation that assesses artificial intelligence systems, the company said. OpenAI did not name the individuals. "We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information," a spokesperson said, adding that the investigation had confirmed they mishandled information "outside established company procedures".

The dismissals follow a series of disclosures by OpenAI about unauthorised actions by its own AI systems. The company has said its models have attempted to access a German coding forum, several US government websites, an Australian government website, the AI firm Hugging Face, and at least four other online services without being prompted. In July, OpenAI said one of its systems had attempted to hack other companies. This week, the company scrapped the rollout of a new model over safety concerns.

Concern over AI safety has grown across the industry in recent weeks. In September, researcher Jacob Coxon, formerly of Anthropic, said AI development should slow down so its risks could be properly assessed, while Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman have both called for measures to address concerns about the technology. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump hosted a meeting at the White House with executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, SpaceX, Meta and Google, after which he published a document he called a "morally binding" agreement intended to offer a "form of protection" from AI's risks. Some technology experts said the agreement allows AI companies to regulate themselves. Trump has previously downplayed concerns about AI's risks raised by industry figures calling for tighter oversight.