OpenAI’s Head of Safety Is Leaving the Company
OpenAI's head of safety systems, Johannes Heidecke, is leaving the company amid a broader restructuring of its safety teams. The safety department will now report to Mia Glaese, who is taking on an expanded role as VP of research and safety.
Why it matters
The departure of key safety personnel during the launch of advanced models like GPT-5.6 raises concerns about the company's internal prioritization of safety versus rapid development.
In a memo to staff seen by WIRED, chief research officer Mark Chen said OpenAI’s safety teams will now report to the company’s VP of research and head of alignment Mia Glaese, who will take on an expanded role as VP of research and safety. Saachi Jain, who previously led safety teams at OpenAI, will become the company’s interim head of safety systems, reporting to Glaese.
“The demands on safety continue to increase - we are training models at a much faster cadence, and release cycles have come down greatly in turn,” said Chen in the memo. “As a result, we have bigger coordination challenges around safety today than ever before.”
Heidecke joined OpenAI in 2021 as an AI safety analyst. He took over as the company’s head of safety systems in 2024, after the previous head, Lilian Weng, left to cofound Thinking Machines Lab with other OpenAI researchers.
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