What I get from this article is that OpenAI is in many aspects similar to other research organizations, but with more resources and better PR. I think this article is reassuring for anyone doing AI research outside of the big labs. However, I also think that nothing that the article reports puts OpenAI in a particularly bad light; it's just the ordinary problems a research organization typically has.

(Note: GPT-2 communications were unfortunate and insincere, but I've witnessed similar, less high-profile communication blunders.)