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Former OpenAI staffer reveals culture of secrecy, speed, and X obsession


Calvin French-Owen worked for OpenAI between May 2024 and June 2025 as a technical staff member. He talked about his time at the firm in a recent...

In brief: A former OpenAI employee has revealed some details about the company that went from near obscurity to kickstarting the generative AI revolution in a short amount of time. A lot of people view OpenAI as a sort of Skynet-type firm that will inadvertently bring down civilization, but the former worker says everyone he met there is trying to do the right thing. It's somewhat ironic that X is its social media platform of choice, given the animosity between CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who have been involved in several legal spats.

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