Ryan Beiermeister, who served as OpenAI’s vice president of product policy, was fired in January. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, her termination followed an accusation from a male colleague of sex discrimination. Beiermeister has denied the allegation, stating that any claim she discriminated against anyone is absolutely false.
The Journal’s report indicates that Beiermeister’s firing occurred after she voiced criticism of a planned ChatGPT feature known as “adult mode.” This new mode would introduce erotica into the chatbot’s user experience. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, has stated that this feature is planned to launch in the first quarter of this year.
Beiermeister and other employees reportedly raised concerns about how the adult feature could potentially impact certain users. OpenAI has stated that Beiermeister made valuable contributions during her time at the company and that her departure was not related to any issue she raised while working there. She was fired following a leave of absence.
Prior to her role at OpenAI, Ryan Beiermeister worked for four years on Meta’s product team and spent over seven years working for Palantir.