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OpenAI has disbanded a team that focused on \u2014 as the company itself described<\/a> \u2014 ensuring that its AI systems are \u201csafe, trustworthy, and consistently aligned with human values.\u201d At the same time, the team\u2019s former leader has been given a new role as the company\u2019s \u201cchief futurist.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that the team\u2019s members have now been assigned to other roles. The news was first reported<\/a> by Platformer.<\/p>\n The disbanded team in question, which appears to have been formed in September of 2024<\/a>, was the startup\u2019s internal unit dedicated to working on alignment. That\u2019s a broad field of interest<\/a> within the industry that seeks to ensure that AI acts in accordance with human interests.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want these systems to consistently follow human intent in complex, real-world scenarios and adversarial conditions, avoid catastrophic behavior, and remain controllable, auditable, and aligned with human values,\u201d a post<\/a> from OpenAI\u2019s Alignment Research blog declares.<\/p>\n An OpenAI job posting<\/a> for the Alignment team describes it as being dedicated to AI research that focuses on \u201cdeveloping methodologies that enable AI to robustly follow human intent across a wide range of scenarios, including those that are adversarial or high-stakes.\u201d<\/p>\n In a blog post<\/a> published Wednesday, Josh Achiam, the former head of OpenAI\u2019s Alignment team, explained his new role as the company\u2019s chief futurist. \u201cMy goal is to support OpenAI\u2019s mission \u2014 to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity \u2014 by studying how the world will change in response to AI, AGI, and beyond,\u201d Achiam wrote.<\/p>\n Achiam noted that, in his new role, he would be collaborating with Jason Pruet, a physicist from OpenAI\u2019s technical staff. <\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA<\/span> A spokesperson for OpenAI said the rest of the Alignment team \u2014 a group of six or seven people \u2014 had subsequently been reassigned to different parts of the company. The spokesperson couldn\u2019t say where exactly the team members had been assigned, but said that they were engaged in similar work in those roles. It was also unclear whether Achiam would have a new team as part of his \u201cfuturist\u201d role.<\/p>\n The spokesperson attributed the disbanding of the team to the kinds of routine reorganizations that occur within a fast-moving company. <\/p>\n OpenAI previously had what it called a \u201csuperalignment team\u201d \u2014 which was formed in 2023<\/a> and focused on studying long-term existential threats posed by AI \u2014 but that team was disbanded in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Achiam\u2019s personal website<\/a> still lists him as head of Mission Alignment at OpenAI, and describes him as being interested in ensuring that the \u201clong-term future of humanity is good.\u201d His LinkedIn profile<\/a> shows he had served as Head of Mission Alignment since September 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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