Garrison Lovely: OpenAI safety leader ‘strongly agreed’ with fired researchers’ recommendations
Garrison Lovely @GarrisonLovelyX
Why it matters
Journalist adds that an OpenAI safety leader agreed with the letter’s recommendations and that OpenAI has not widely explained the firings internally.
Summary
Journalist Garrison Lovely says one of OpenAI’s safety leaders “strongly agreed” with the fired researchers’ recommendations while maintaining the firings were not about raising safety concerns, and that, per people familiar, OpenAI has not widely shared information on the firings internally.
Archived text
Great scoop from Max: after OpenAI fired them, the 3 safety researchers wrote a letter to leadership. One of the company’s safety leaders “strongly agreed” with the letter’s recommendations, but maintained the firings “were not about raising safety concerns or speaking out.”
I still haven’t heard a good explanation about why these researchers were fired, and OpenAI hasn’t widely shared information on the firing internally, per people familiar. Without providing more of an explanation, the firings will clearly have a chilling effect on staff. I’d imagine we’ll learn more in time (and if you have info, my Signal is Garrison.06 — all inbounds are off the record).