OpenAI Safety VP Reportedly Fired for Sexual Discrimination Against Her Male Colleague

OpenAI has reportedly fired safety executive Ryan Beirmeister, whose title at the company was VP of product policy. According to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, Beirmeister was told her firing was related to sexual discrimination against a male colleague.

“The allegation that I discriminated against anyone is absolutely false,” Beiermeister told the journal in a statement.

According to anonymous sources who spoke to the Journal, The firing, which apparently occurred in early January, came after Beirmeister had stated her opposition to the ChatGPT adult mode (or erotica mode?) Sam Altman announced in October of last year. Beirmeister was also, according to the Journal, the creator of an internal “peer-mentorship” group for women at OpenAI.

A possible adult mode has been in the works for a long time. A model spec in 2024 hinted at the possibility of NSFW content. However, OpenAI told Mashable around the release of that document, “We have no intention to create AI-generated pornography.”

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman backtracked slightly on his adult mode announcement from last year, emphasizing mature conversations, rather than horniness, but the ability for users to have some form of cybersex with OpenAI’s signature chatbot still seems to be on its way. Altman just wants to provide, he says, “a lot of freedom for people to use AI in the ways that they want,” and he said he and his company “are not the elected moral police of the world.”

The sources who spoke to the journal also mentioned an “advisory council” on “well-being and AI” inside OpenAI, and this entity has apparently asked for the release of adult mode to be reconsidered.

But OpenAI’s statement to the Journal on Beirmeister’s firing strongly implies that it had nothing to do with adult mode. It says she “made valuable contributions during her time at OpenAI, and her departure was not related to any issue she raised while working at the company.”