What happened
OpenAI disbanded its preparedness team at the end of last month, according to the Financial Times. The team's role was to assess whether AI models posed serious risks and develop ways to mitigate them. Responsibility for safety in specific areas like bio and cyber has been moved into existing teams instead.
Why it matters
This is the latest in a series of safety-focused departures and restructurings at OpenAI. The company has dissolved its AGI readiness and superalignment teams in recent years, and ethics lead Chloé Bakalar, Chief Futurist Josh Achiam, and head of safety Johannes Heidecke have all left recently. Jan Leike, who resigned from OpenAI in 2024, told the Financial Times the company was prioritizing "shiny products" over safety—a concern that this latest move may amplify.
What to watch
Dylan Scandinaro, the head of the preparedness team who was hired from Anthropic in February, will now focus on the implications of "recursive self-improving" AI. OpenAI is heading toward what is expected to be a massive IPO, which may be shaping these organizational choices.
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OpenAI's decision to disband the preparedness team represents a continuation of the company's gradual shift away from dedicated safety oversight. Over recent years, the company has dissolved its AGI readiness and superalignment teams—structural moves that consolidate safety work into broader product teams rather than maintaining independent review functions. The departure of multiple senior safety leaders—Bakalar, Achiam, Heidecke, and earlier Leike—suggests both a strategic realignment and potential friction over safety priorities. Leike's public criticism that OpenAI is ignoring safety in favor of "shiny products" carries particular weight given his former role at the company. The timing of these changes, as OpenAI prepares for what is described as an expected massive IPO, raises questions about whether organizational priorities are shifting toward growth and investor appeal over the kind of foundational risk assessment the preparedness team performed.
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