Sam Altman’s OpenAI on Friday pushed back against allegations by three fired employees that the company could be undermining external checks on artificial intelligence, stating that the AI firm views safety and research debates as “highly critical” to success.

The saga began on Thursday, when three safety researchers at OpenAI released a letter announcing their termination by the company. Tomek Korbak, Jasmine Wang, and Mikita Balesni suggested they were fired for collaborating with outside experts on safety concerns, intimating that OpenAI is becoming less open to its researchers working in tandem with independent entities to create safety mechanisms for AI.