Termination Reported By The Wall Street Journal
Ryan Beiermeister, who served as OpenAI’s vice president of product policy, was fired in January after a male colleague accused her of sexual discrimination, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
“The allegation that I discriminated against anyone is absolutely false,” Beiermeister told the Journal. TechCrunch said it contacted OpenAI for comment and also reached out to an email address that appears to be associated with Beiermeister, and neither had responded at the time of publication.
Connection To A Planned ChatGPT Feature
The Journal reported that Beiermeister’s termination followed her criticism of a planned ChatGPT feature described as “adult mode.” The feature is intended to add erotica to the chatbot’s user experience. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, who oversees the company’s consumer-facing products, has told reporters that the feature is planned to launch during the first quarter of this year.
According to the report, Beiermeister and others inside the company raised concerns about how the new feature could affect certain users.
OpenAI’s Statement On The Departure
OpenAI said that Beiermeister was fired after a leave of absence and stated that 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,” according to the Journal’s account.
Career Background
Beiermeister’s LinkedIn profile says she previously worked for four years on Meta’s product team and spent more than seven years at Palantir.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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