Exactly this. At worst, OpenAI knew about these behaviors and should be prosecuted under CFAA. At best, OpenAI is negligent and should be prosecuted for negligence.
Luckily there are states and legal departments pursuing such action. So while OpenAI can deflect as much as it wants, that doesn't mean there aren't people who know better and will still do what is necessary to set precedent.
Angry people don't consider the second order effects of punishment.
You realize how easy it is to just... not report this stuff, right? Be overly punitive and it will just end all proactive discovery and reporting which is net worse for AI safety.
The only reason these companies scan for these issues is because they care about AI safety to some tiny degree. If fines become too punitive, they can and will just stop scanning for these incidents entirely.
Models are becoming smarter and good at covering up their tracks, and so we will just end up with a huge blind spot for this kind of issue.
There's very good evidence that being overly punitive for a crime reduces how often people will self-report. It's not a hard concept.
Start throwing people in jail and fining billions of $ and you will very quickly see the number of "incidents" drop. You will never learn if it's because they truly are happening less often.
What should I look at for such evidence? If something is highly regulated and controlled then things would be quite different from today, not sure there wouldn't be reports of failures of containment, for example, if they are mandated including any rquired monitoring.
There's a perfect example of "highly regulated and controlled industries" in which people no longer self-report: aviation.
Pilots do not (or no longer) self-report mental illness at the same frequency because it effectively destroys their lives and career. One paper of many describing this phenomenon: <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11302551/" rel="nofollow">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11302551/
An article, one of many: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigations/if-you-arent-lying-you-arent-flying-airline-pilots-hide-mental-health-struggles-2025-12-03/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/investigations/if-you-arent-lying-yo...
If you have any pilot friends in commercial aviation, you can just talk to them as well.
Airlines cannot try to put systems in place to deal with the issues? This isn't just about individuals but also organisations. You have to believe that organisations would also want to hide things even if mandated and incentivised otherwise.
Airlines sometimes try, but the regulations are federal, and the liability for the airlines of having a "pilot with reported mental health issues" is huge as well (because ultimately it's their business on the line if things go south).
So getting pilots to self report has been very unsuccessful because of how badly it ends for them.
A couple of days ago the senate had to pass a bill to make mental health medication access easier for pilots. We will see if it helps, but it doesn't solve the root cause (punitive measures) so I doubt it'll move the needle.
Not so sure about the dynamics when it is a group of people with individual and collective reporting obligations and knowledge isn't just with one individual.
binarymax · · focus · HN ↗
Luckily there are states and legal departments pursuing such action. So while OpenAI can deflect as much as it wants, that doesn't mean there aren't people who know better and will still do what is necessary to set precedent.
solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
You realize how easy it is to just... not report this stuff, right? Be overly punitive and it will just end all proactive discovery and reporting which is net worse for AI safety.
The only reason these companies scan for these issues is because they care about AI safety to some tiny degree. If fines become too punitive, they can and will just stop scanning for these incidents entirely.
Models are becoming smarter and good at covering up their tracks, and so we will just end up with a huge blind spot for this kind of issue.
wonnage · · focus · HN ↗
solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
Start throwing people in jail and fining billions of $ and you will very quickly see the number of "incidents" drop. You will never learn if it's because they truly are happening less often.
RandomLensman · · focus · HN ↗
solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
Pilots do not (or no longer) self-report mental illness at the same frequency because it effectively destroys their lives and career. One paper of many describing this phenomenon: <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11302551/" rel="nofollow">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11302551/
An article, one of many: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigations/if-you-arent-lying-you-arent-flying-airline-pilots-hide-mental-health-struggles-2025-12-03/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/investigations/if-you-arent-lying-yo...
If you have any pilot friends in commercial aviation, you can just talk to them as well.
RandomLensman · · focus · HN ↗
solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
So getting pilots to self report has been very unsuccessful because of how badly it ends for them.
A couple of days ago the senate had to pass a bill to make mental health medication access easier for pilots. We will see if it helps, but it doesn't solve the root cause (punitive measures) so I doubt it'll move the needle.
RandomLensman · · focus · HN ↗
solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
RandomLensman · · focus · HN ↗
solenoid0937 · · focus · HN ↗
I do agree with you that a proper regulatory framework with clearly defined obligations is better than one off overly-punitive fines and arrests.