# Bug hunters can now earn up to $172,000 from OpenAI as company ramps up security > Source: > Published: 2026-11-03 10:42:44+00:00 # Bug hunters can now earn up to $172,000 from OpenAI as company ramps up security **OpenAI quadruples bug bounty payouts and launches new internal security sprint.** Critical vulnerabilities in core products like ChatGPT or Codex now earn outside researchers up to $30,000, [the company announced](https://openai.com/index/rewarding-defenders-with-bigger-bug-bounties/). Exceptional findings can net up to $100,000, and with quality, loyalty, and campaign bonuses, the total can reach roughly $172,000. That puts OpenAI in the same ballpark as Google's general vulnerability rewards program, though still below the top-tier payouts Apple or Microsoft offer for OS-level exploits. New additions include a five-tier loyalty program and time-limited campaigns with boosted payouts tied to new feature launches. Anyone who reported a vulnerability in the last 30 days will get the difference between the old and new rates retroactively. Alongside the bounty overhaul, OpenAI is [preparing a security sprint](https://openai.com/index/preparing-our-next-security-sprint-to-harden-openai/) where the security firm [Cathedral](https://the-decoder.com/ai-agents-hacked-anthropic-maker-of-arguably-the-most-capable-ai-models-for-cyberdefense/) will team up with OpenAI's own engineers to stress-test its systems. During the last sprint, 25 percent of OpenAI's product engineers worked on finding vulnerabilities, according to the company. ``` AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now ``` [OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/preparing-our-next-security-sprint-to-harden-openai/)