OpenAI Staff Were Reportedly Asked To Unlock Personal Phones Before Dismissals, WSJ Reports

The WSJ reported that staff were asked to unlock their personal phones before the dismissals.

The OpenAI spokesperson said the decisions were not made because the employees raised safety concerns or spoke publicly about them. According to the excerpt, OpenAI suspected that the researchers had leaked information about its internal model designs to Greenblatt, who was then associated with Redwood Research. Greenblatt denied sharing confidential information with reporters.

The excerpt sets out two elements of the company's account: an internal investigation that identified policy violations concerning sensitive information, and a suspicion that internal model design details had reached an outside researcher. It also records Greenblatt's denial. The article does not name the three dismissed employees, describe the specific policy violations, or detail what the internal investigation involved beyond the handling of sensitive information.