❯ OpenAI reportedly trains staff in counterespionage, warning of honey traps, bribes and eavesdropping in public places

A friendly stranger may be a spyAccording to Yahoo News, relaying a Wall Street Journal report citing unnamed sources, OpenAI’s internal training warns employees about “honey pot” schemes that use sex or romance to get close to a target. One example: a stranger approached an employee at a San Francisco playground with their child and steered the small talk toward work; the stranger was a spy.

Everyday secrecy rulesOpenAI’s security experts also warn about bribery and eavesdropping in public places such as cafes, and tell staff to use privacy screens on phones and laptops in public, wipe whiteboards after meetings and avoid wearing company-branded clothing in public. The report says Anthropic and Google have given employees similar warnings.

After the bugging caseThe report notes these risks took on new urgency this week after the US Justice Department charged an OpenAI engineer with installing a hidden recording device in an executive conference room. Frontier labs’ weights, training methods and product plans are enormously valuable, and the cost of protecting them is extending from cybersecurity into employees’ daily behavior.

▮ SIGNALOnce model companies’ secrets are worth the effort of stealing, AI labs’ security practices start to converge with those of defense contractors and intelligence agencies.