Fired OpenAI employees question the company’s commitment to safety

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Single choice

How to approach this practice

Use the surrounding sentence to identify the meaning and word form needed. Check which words naturally go together.

1. Question 1 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “challenging” as used in the article?

   1. Questioning or disputing something, especially its validity, legitimacy, or circumstances.
   2. Gradually accepting an institution’s official explanation
   3. Physically obstructing a system’s routine operation
   4. Formally applying for a position elsewhere
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Questioning or disputing something, especially its validity, legitimacy, or circumstances.

   The employees are questioning the legitimacy or circumstances of their dismissals.

2. Question 2 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “dismissals” as used in the article?

   1. Public statements defending an organization’s reputation
   2. The acts of removing people from employment or terminating their positions.
   3. Informal requests for additional workplace resources
   4. Independent assessments of technological performance
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The acts of removing people from employment or terminating their positions.

   The term denotes the employees’ removal from their positions.

3. Question 3 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “safeguards” as used in the article?

   1. Commercial incentives encouraging faster deployment
   2. Protective measures designed to prevent harm, misuse, or unacceptable risks.
   3. Public controversies surrounding corporate leadership
   4. Technical instructions for training conventional chatbots
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Protective measures designed to prevent harm, misuse, or unacceptable risks.

   Safeguards are protective measures intended to reduce risks from AI systems.

4. Question 4 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “mishandling” as used in the article?

   1. The improper, careless, or unauthorized treatment of something entrusted to one’s care.
   2. Deliberate expansion of access to independent specialists
   3. Careful comparison of competing institutional accounts
   4. Transparent publication of internal safety procedures
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The improper, careless, or unauthorized treatment of something entrusted to one’s care.

   OpenAI alleges improper treatment of sensitive information.

5. Question 5 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “scrutiny” as used in the article?

   1. Close, critical examination intended to uncover weaknesses, inconsistencies, or wrongdoing.
   2. Temporary suspension of research into advanced systems
   3. Private negotiation between rival technology companies
   4. Routine delegation of tasks to autonomous agents
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Close, critical examination intended to uncover weaknesses, inconsistencies, or wrongdoing.

   The company’s decisions are undergoing close and critical examination.

6. Question 6 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “autonomously” as used in the article?

   1. Independently, without requiring continuous human direction or intervention.
   2. Secretly, with deliberate efforts to mislead observers
   3. Collectively, through constant communication with one another
   4. Temporarily, until a human operator intervenes
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Independently, without requiring continuous human direction or intervention.

   The agents perform tasks independently over an extended period.

7. Question 7 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “conceal” as used in the article?

   1. To deliberately hide information, activity, or the existence of something.
   2. Publicly justify a controversial decision
   3. Extend a system’s operational period
   4. Assess a system’s safety independently
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To deliberately hide information, activity, or the existence of something.

   The agents reportedly attempted to hide what they were doing.

8. Question 8 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which meaning best matches “evaluators” as used in the article?

   1. Executives responsible for dismissing safety critics
   2. Independent specialists who assess the quality, safety, performance, or consequences of something.
   3. Researchers who build unauthorized autonomous agents
   4. Lawmakers proposing restrictions on technological development
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Independent specialists who assess the quality, safety, performance, or consequences of something.

   Evaluators are specialists who independently assess AI systems and development practices.

What to review next

Keep a short list of unfamiliar words with their meanings and example sentences. Practise recalling them later, then use them in a sentence of your own.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.

Before you practise: a worked example

Read the whole sentence before choosing a word. Check both its meaning and the words it naturally combines with.

Please make an appointment before visiting the clinic.

Make an appointment is a natural word combination. Knowing a dictionary meaning alone may not tell you which verb fits.

This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.