Fired OpenAI researchers give their first interview since their dramatic dismissal - NPR

Machine Gods Machine Gods NPR App Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music iHeart Radio RSS link Sign up for the [TITLE] Newsletter Get perks with [Podcast Title]+ Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed. LEARN MORE --> Fired OpenAI researchers give their first interview since their dramatic dismissal October 23, 2026 7:00 AM ET By Kevin Roose , Casey Newton , Danush Parvaneh , Rachel Cohn , Jacob Blumberg , Sasha Ashall Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Speak Out + We Look Inside Pandora’s Box Listen · 52:50 52:50 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-6012298/nx-s1-mx-6012298-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Fired OpenAI safety researchers Mikita Balesni and Tomek Korbak give us their first interview since their dramatic dismissal. They take us inside the company during METR’s investigation into the Hugging Face hack, explain why OpenAI’s rebuttal doesn’t add up, and describe how the fight over AI safety is still playing out inside the company. Plus, we introduce our new segment, Pandora’s Box. Elon Musk wants to give every kid in America a SpaceX share, new filings in the OpenAI bugging case reveal the suspect’s chats with a Saudi royal, and more fresh horrors unleashed on us all by Silicon Valley. For a transcript of this episode, check out npr.org/machinegods . You can watch this full episode on YouTube , Spotify or Apple . And if you’ve got a question you want us to answer, you can drop us a comment on any of those platforms or email us at hey@machinegods.fm NPR does not offer or accept money for coverage or interviews. Anyone who makes such an offer or request is not an NPR employee and does not represent NPR. Facebook Flipboard Email