OpenAI employees warned about operational security lapses for years, sources say

When OpenAI disclosed in October that it found a recording device planted in an executive conference room, a number of former employees had the same reaction — ​they were not surprised. Even before OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, some company staffers raised concerns internally about its security practices, according to five people familiar with the matter. Employees shared their concerns with top OpenAI leaders and the board of ‌directors, the people said, adding that some staffers came away from those interactions concluding that management was more focused on keeping pace with competitors like Google and Anthropic than ​on security. These workers argued that OpenAI’s controls were so lax that outsiders, including foreign governments, could obtain sensitive information about the AI lab’s technology with relative ease, the people said. For ⁠example, anybody at OpenAI who could access its code could see the technical details underlying many company projects.