The BaseEssayAI Alignment Forum (op-ed written for Fortune)
OpenAI Can't Self-Police Because It Fires the People Raising the Alarm
In an op-ed written for Fortune and posted on the Alignment Forum, Alex Turner, Amber Scorah and Karl Koch argue that voluntary self-policing has failed at OpenAI, citing the firing of three safety researchers. They urge Congress to mandate independent audits and pass whistleblower and incident-reporting bills.
Why it matters
The same thing, for different readers.
What it means for you
The authors say companies promised outside checks on their AI, then dismissed staff who worked with those checkers; the company disputes that characterisation.
For lawmakers
The op-ed asks Congress for mandatory independent evaluation, criminal liability for executives who silence oversight, and passage of two named bills.
For researchers
Outside evaluators rely on candid lab staff; the authors argue the firings could cut off the access evaluators were promised.
The question it raises
Can an organisation be trusted to police itself when those who raise alarms bear the risk, and what do voluntary commitments mean?
In their own words
Every quotation was found, word for word, in the text we saved from the source. That shows the words are there; it does not make them true, or prove the speaker meant them as quoted.
From the source’s own text.
“OpenAI has engaged in strong self-policing—of its own safety staff, but not of its own behavior. Under a voluntary self-policing regime, any frontier AI company shares only what it wants and hides the rest.”
“Congress should mandate independent evaluation and audits in AI as well, with criminal liability for executives who attempt to silence that oversight or recklessly deploy models that put the public at risk.”
“We don’t take OpenAI’s word because OpenAI’s actions keep contradicting its words. OpenAI’s chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, said he wants “to prevent a race into unmonitorability.””
The record
- Questions
- Who can demand evidence, delay a release or stop an unsafe deployment? · Are AI companies putting stronger safeguards into practice?
- People
- Alex Turner (Wrote it, independent AI alignment researcher) · Amber Scorah (Wrote it, founder of Back Channel) · Karl Koch (Wrote it, founder of The AI Whistleblower Initiative) · Tomek Korbak (About them) · Mikita Balesni (About them) · Jasmine Wang (About them) · Sam Altman (Mentioned, CEO, OpenAI)
- What we read
- We read the whole source.
- Found by
- The Radar, run of October 13, 2026, via
ai-alignment-forum(tier 1: the source’s own channel or an official record) - Cite this
- AI Alignment Forum (op-ed written for Fortune), “OpenAI Can't Self-Police Because It Fires the People Raising the Alarm”, October 12, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/alignment-forum-2026-10-12-openai-cant-self-police