OpenAI reportedly fired three safety researchers after security officers examined their phones

OpenAI fired three safety researchers in September 2026 after a phone inquiry into suspected leaks of model-design information, The Wall Street Journal reports. Officers found that some had enabled disappearing messages in Signal chats with an outside safety researcher. Journal reporter Maxwell Zeff says the three had pushed to keep AI chain-of-thought visible that summer; the reporting does not establish that their advocacy caused the firings.