The New Yorker's OpenAI Investigation: 100+ Sources, Secret Memos, and a Pattern of 'Lying' — Inside the Safety Crisis at the World's Most Valuable Startup

On April 7, 2026, The New Yorker published a major investigation into OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, based on 100+ interviews and previously undisclosed internal documents — including secret memos by Ilya Sutskever alleging 'a consistent pattern of lying.' The investigation documents how OpenAI's superalignment team received 1-2% of compute instead of the promised 20%, how safety teams were dissolved three times in two years, and how the board that fired Altman was replaced with allies. Published the same day as OpenAI's economic policy blueprint, the timing raises questions about the gap between OpenAI's public positioning and internal reality.