OpenAI has fired an employee after an internal investigation found that the person used confidential company information in connection with prediction market platforms, including Polymarket, reports The Wired. The dismissal was disclosed earlier this year in a message to staff from Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, the report says. However, the AI company has not revealed the name of the employee or details of the trades involved. OpenAI said its policies do not allow employees to use internal information for personal financial gain.
What the internal message said
In her message to employees, Fidji Simo said the employee “used confidential OpenAI information in connection with external prediction markets (e.g.Polymarket).”OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood said, “Our policies prohibit employees from using confidential OpenAI information for personal gain, including in prediction markets.”The company did not provide further details about the investigation or whether any other employees are under review.
Analysis flags trading activity
An analysis by financial data platform Unusual Whales found clusters of trading activity around OpenAI-related events since March 2023.Polymarket operates on the Polygon blockchain, which allows transactions to be traced, though users remain pseudonymous.Unusual Whales said it flagged 77 positions across 60 wallet addresses as suspected insider trades. The flagged trades were linked to events such as product release dates for Sora, GPT-5, and the ChatGPT Browser, as well as the employment status of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.In November 2023, two days after Altman was removed from his role, a new wallet reportedly placed a large bet that he would return.
The account later made a profit of more than $16,000 and did not place further trades.Unusual Whales CEO Matt Saincome said, “The tell is the clustering. In the 40 hours before OpenAI launched its browser, 13 brand-new wallets with zero trading history appeared on the site for the first time to collectively bet $309,486 on the right outcome.” He added, “When you see that many fresh wallets making the same bet at the same time, it raises a real question about whether the secret is getting out.”
Growing scrutiny of prediction markets
Prediction markets allow users to trade on the outcome of future events, including technology product launches and company decisions. As their popularity has grown, concerns have also increased about possible insider trading.Jeff Edelstein, a senior analyst at InGame, said, “This prediction market world makes the Wild West look tame in comparison. If there’s a market that exists where the answer is known, somebody’s going to trade on it.”Earlier this week, Kalshi said it reported several suspected insider trading cases to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.