Sébastien Bubeck denies OpenAI's authorship talks with Alpöge were closed

Sébastien BubeckOpenAI participant replying directly to Alpöge

Rejects Alpöge's description of closed negotiations and says the team was willing to keep discussing alternatives.

Responding to

Alpöge says his exclusion appeared to be a settled condition of the proposed collaboration.

“nothing at all was locked”

Original post

Read the original post (opens in a new tab)Bubeck directly disputes Alpöge's account of closed negotiations
WIRED illustration for the OpenAI, Anthropic, and mathematics credit dispute.

Where this statement fits

Did OpenAI improperly pressure mathematicians over authorship and credit?

Tristan Buckmaster describes pressure over authorship and publication during discussions about competing AI-assisted mathematics results. Sébastien Bubeck disputes that characterization and says the proposed authorship concerned OpenAI's own proof. His apology for career-related wording does not settle the disagreement. Researchers and commentators divide over whether the negotiations were appropriate, while raising a separate dispute about the treatment of unpublished user research.

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Source and context

Original post

Bubeck directly disputes Alpöge's account of closed negotiations (opens in a new tab)

About this source

Direct reply to Alpöge; says negotiations remained open and further discussions were possible.

Before the quotation

Alpöge says the conversation made him believe the terms were settled.

After the quotation

This reply does not resolve the disagreement about whether the proposed exclusion was appropriate.

How this statement is classified

Challenged the characterization

The label describes this statement's response within the context above.

Why this label?

Direct denial of the characterization that the outcome was predetermined.

Recorded on
Published here
People and groups discussed
Levent Alpöge

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Publisher
The Dispute Index
Title
Sébastien Bubeck denies OpenAI's authorship talks with Alpöge were closed
First published
Last updated
Permalink
https://disputeindex.com/events/288-rejects-alp%C3%B6ge-s-description-of-closed-negotiations-and

Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.

The Dispute Index. "Sébastien Bubeck denies OpenAI's authorship talks with Alpöge were closed". First published: 2026-09-10. Last updated: 2026-09-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/288-rejects-alp%C3%B6ge-s-description-of-closed-negotiations-and