OpenAI reportedly disbanded its preparedness team

Aug 17, 2026 04:32 AM - 3 hours ago 1

Terrence O'Brien

is the Verge’s play editor. He’s covered the tech manufacture for complete 18 years and knows a point aliases 2 astir synths.

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI disbanded its preparedness squad astatine the extremity of past month. The occupation of the preparedness squad was to measure if models posed superior risks and create ways to mitigate those risks. (You know, for illustration the anticipation that it could go rogue and hack different company.) According to FT, work has alternatively been divided up for circumstantial areas for illustration bio and cyber, past moved into existing teams.

This is the latest alteration astatine the company, which has been successful upheaval arsenic it heads towards what is expected to beryllium a monolithic IPO. Over the past fewer years, it’s slow torn down its much reach-led model, dissolving its AGI readiness and superalignment teams. Ethics lead Chloé Bakalar, Chief Futurist Josh Achiam, and caput of information Johannes Heidecke person each besides near recently, starring immoderate critics for illustration Jan Leike, who resigned from OpenAI successful 2024, to show FT that the institution was ignoring information successful favour of creating “shiny products.”

The caput of the preparedness team, Dylan Scandinaro, who was poached from Anthropic successful February, will now attraction connected the implications of “recursive self-improving” AI.

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