OpenAI (OPENAI) fired one of its safety executives named Ryan Beiermeister in January on grounds of sexual discrimination after she opposed the planned rollout of an AI erotica feature in ChatGPT, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Beiermeister, who served as a vice president of Product Policy, was let go in early January, following a leave of absence, the report added, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
OpenAI informed her that the termination was related to her sexual discrimination against a male colleague, the report noted.
“The allegation that I discriminated against anyone is absolutely false,” said Beiermeister to the WSJ.
Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI told the news outlet that Beiermeister “made valuable contributions during her time at OpenAI, and her departure was not related to any issue she raised while working at the company,” according to the report.
Her expulsion comes ahead of OpenAI’s planned launch of a mode that will allow users to create AI erotica in ChatGPT. The potential feature, which would permit adult-themed conversation including sexual topics for adult users, has seen criticism from researchers at the company who have studied the ways some people inculcate unhealthy attachments to AI chatbots, the report noted. They have raised the concern that sexual content could intensify the feelings some people have for the AI personas they view as companions.
Members of an advisory council on “well-being and AI” that OpenAI convenes regularly have also shown opposition to adult mode and requested the AI startup to reconsider plans to launch it, the report added, citing people familiar with the discussions.
OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has defended the plan to expand the permissible content on his platform as a part of an effort to “treat adult users like adults,” the report noted.
Before her expulsion, Beiermeister told colleagues that she opposed adult mode and was concerned that it would have harmful effects for users, the report added, citing people with knowledge of her remarks.
Beiermeister also shared with colleagues that she believed OpenAI’s mechanisms to stop child-exploitation content were not effective enough and that the company could not sufficiently prevent adult content from teens, the report noted.
She is one of several employees within the company who have shown concerns about the launch of adult mode, the report added.
Beiermeister joined OpenAI in June 2024 after spending over four years at Meta Platforms (META), where she was director of Product, Social Impact, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before Meta, Beiermeister worked at Palantir Technologies.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has reached over 800M weekly active users and faces competition from Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Gemini, Anthropic’s (ANTHRO) Claude, and xAI’s (X.AI) Grok, among other AI products.
Grok has recently come under scrutiny following the alleged generation of deepfake images by the AI service.