Despite its name, OpenAI has earned a reputation as a secretive company. But the growing list of problems for the tech giant continues to grow. A new item on that list is hackers. In early 2023, hackers gained access to OpenAI’s internal messaging system and stole information about its AI developments. The incident remained a secret, and the company did not publicly disclose it.

Two people briefed on the incident told The New York Times that OpenAI executives chose not to disclose information about the breach because no information about customers or partners was compromised. The company also did not report the hack to the police or FBI.

OpenAI told Business Insider that the company had “identified and fixed the underlying security issue” that led to the breach. The company said the hacker was a private individual with no government ties and that no source code repository was compromised. The attack raised concerns both inside and outside the company, given that OpenAI’s security was so lax that it left it vulnerable.

While the US is leading the global AI arms race, China is not far behind. US officials view China’s use of AI as a serious potential security threat, so the knowledge that OpenAI data and systems are open to attackers is a cause for concern.

Employees within the company have also raised concerns about security. Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI board member, said the company fired him in April after he sent a memo detailing a “serious security incident.” He described the company’s security as “grossly inadequate” in terms of protecting against theft by foreign actors. OpenAI denies firing Aschenbrenner for raising security concerns.

Aschenbrenner was a member of the company’s super alignment team, which worked to ensure OpenAI’s technology was developed securely. A month after OpenAI fired Aschenbrenner, two more senior members of the team resigned, effectively disbanding the team. One of them was OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutzkever. He announced his departure just six months after helping unsuccessfully fire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in part due to differences between the two over the security of the technology. A few hours after Sutzkever announced his resignation, his colleague Jan Leicke also left.

After the drama played out, OpenAI created a new security and defense committee last month and added former NSA director Paul Nakasone as the group’s leader. Nakasone, now a member of OpenAI’s new board, is the former head of U.S. Cyber ​​Command, the cybersecurity arm of the Department of Defense.

While Nakason’s presence is a sign that OpenAI is taking security more seriously, his appointment has also sparked controversy. American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked classified documents revealing government surveillance in 2013, wrote in a post on X that Nakason’s hiring was “a deliberate betrayal of the rights of every human being on Earth.”