OpenAI Fires an Employee for Prediction Market Insider Trading

Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are big business, and some Big Tech employees are testing boundaries by making trades based on insider knowledge.

OpenAI has fired an employee following an investigation into their activity on prediction market platforms including Polymarket, WIRED has learned.

OpenAI CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, disclosed the termination in an internal message to employees earlier this year. The employee, she said, “used confidential OpenAI information in connection with external prediction markets (e.g. Polymarket).”

“Our policies prohibit employees from using confidential OpenAI information for personal gain, including in prediction markets,” says spokesperson Kayla Wood. OpenAI has not revealed the name of the employee or the specifics of their trades.

Evidence suggests that this was not an isolated event. Polymarket runs on the Polygon blockchain network, so its trading ledger is pseudonymous but traceable. According to an analysis by the financial data platform Unusual Whales, there ...