Did OpenAI Safety Researchers Show Their Phones?

Mikita Balesni says that a week before he and his colleagues were fired, OpenAI pulled them into a security investigation about a leak of OpenAI IP to journalists. The Information had written about less monitorable architectures that OpenAI might be developing. Mikita Balesni says they told OpenAI they were not behind the leak.

OpenAI asked them to show Signal messages on their personal phones with an outside safety researcher. Mikita Balesni says he did, and that they all did. About an hour before the next interview, they got a message about a meeting with HR. Mikita Balesni says he was not given a chance to explain the context, and that OpenAI told them the firing was a final decision.