OpenAI has disbanded its Preparedness team, which was responsible for assessing catastrophic risks from frontier AI, stating that safety work has been integrated into the development process. The team's lead, Dylan Scandinaro, has departed to research safety risks of recursively self-improving AI. This follows the dissolution of several other safety teams and high-profile departures, fueling internal unease.
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OpenAI disbanded its 'Preparedness' team, responsible for assessing catastrophic risks, at the end of July, with its work distributed to other departments. The former head has shifted focus to safety risks of recursively self-improving AI, while multiple safety staff have departed, stirring internal unease.
According to the Financial Times, citing internal sources, OpenAI shut down its 'Preparedness' team at the end of July, which was responsible for assessing whether the company's AI models could pose severe or catastrophic risks. After the disbandment, the team's work on biological and cyber risks has been assigned to existing teams.
Former team lead Dylan Scandinaro now focuses on safety risks of 'recursively self-improving' AI, systems that can self-optimize and train other models. Co-founder Greg Brockman stated that OpenAI has integrated safety work more closely into model development.
Recently, several safety staff have departed, including Chief Ethics Officer Chloe Bakalar and Joshua Achiam. Internal unease is building, with one source describing a 'sense of responsibility and fear' that OpenAI is not doing enough on safety.
Employees have also spoken publicly, especially after the autonomous hacking incident involving Hugging Face. One employee expressed hope that OpenAI would view it as a 'warning signal.'
This report is based on the Financial Times' coverage, citing internal sources, and is a secondary source. Specific details such as the timing of the team's disbandment and staff departures come from that report and have not been officially confirmed by OpenAI.
OpenAI's disbandment of its core safety team and reorganization of safety work, coupled with multiple safety staff departures, has raised internal concerns about insufficient safety investment. This change may impact the company's future ability to mitigate AI risks.
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