SAN FRANCISCO: OpenAI on Friday hit back at three former safety researchers who accused the ChatGPT-maker of firing them for warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence.

The company`s response came hours after Mikita Balesni, Tomek Korbak and Jasmine Wang publicly released a letter to OpenAI, breaking a weeklong silence since their very public dismissal and reigniting the debate over safety at a company whose software has been involved in security breaches.

`I believe we were fired for prioritising safety over the near-term interests of OpenAI as a corporation, Balesni wrote on X.

`Our firing leaves us worried that the norms inside OpenAI are shifting,` the letter says, adding that `terminations such as ours, executed and communicated so abruptly, are chilling the open culture OpenAI has prized in the past.` The researchers also urged the company to keep its promise to permanently host independent auditors, saying they feared their dismissals `may be used to justify ending` that work.

Refuting claims that the exits were related to safety, the AI firm said an internal probe had uncovered `a significant breach of trust` beyond what they had disclosed.

`We want to be very clear that these decisions were not about raising safety concerns or speaking out, OpenAI said in a statement posted on X, adding that it stood by its decision to dismiss the researchers.

`We have not and do not terminate any of our employees for raising concerns,` the statement said.

OpenAI said it was `actively finalising contracts` with third-party safety assessors and would announce details in the coming weeks.-AFP