According to the Financial Times, OpenAI disbanded its preparedness team at the end of last month. The team was responsible for assessing whether AI models posed serious risks and developing methods to mitigate those risks, including scenarios like AI going rogue or hacking other companies.
Responsibility for this work has been redistributed to existing teams focused on specific areas like biosecurity and cybersecurity. This change is part of ongoing restructuring at OpenAI as it moves toward what is expected to be a massive IPO. In recent years, the company has also dissolved its AGI readiness and superalignment teams.
Several safety-focused executives have departed recently, including ethics lead Chloé Bakalar, Chief Futurist Josh Achiam, and head of safety Johannes Heidecke. Dylan Scandinaro, who was poached from Anthropic in February to lead the preparedness team, will now focus on the implications of "recursive self-improving" AI. Former safety researcher Jan Leike, who resigned in 2024, told FT that the company is prioritizing "shiny products" over safety.