OpenAI has announced a significant restructuring of its artificial intelligence safety leadership following the departure of its head of safety, Johannes Heidecke, as the company seeks to integrate safety more closely with frontier AI research and development.
According to a report by Wired published on Saturday, Chief Research Officer Mark Chen informed employees that OpenAI’s safety teams will now report to Vice President of Research and Head of Alignment, Mia Glaese, whose role has been expanded to oversee both research and safety operations.
As part of the reorganisation, Saachi Jain has been appointed interim head of safety systems and will report directly to Glaese.
Heidecke reportedly informed colleagues earlier this week that he would be leaving the company, marking another high-profile leadership change at the AI firm.
In a statement to Wired, Chen thanked Heidecke for his contributions to OpenAI and emphasised the company’s commitment to embedding safety considerations more deeply into the development of its most advanced AI models.
”It is important that our safety work is integrated with frontier-model development, with an earlier and more direct role in shaping key model, product and launch decisions,” Chen said.
The leadership changes come just days after another senior executive, Chief Futurist Joshua Achiam, reportedly informed colleagues that he would also be leaving the company after nine years.
The restructuring reflects OpenAI’s broader strategy of aligning AI safety efforts more closely with research as it accelerates the development of increasingly capable frontier models.
The company has faced growing scrutiny from regulators, governments and industry stakeholders over AI governance, safety standards and the responsible deployment of advanced artificial intelligence systems.
The latest organisational changes underscore OpenAI’s efforts to strengthen the integration of safety into its research processes at a time when the company remains at the forefront of the rapidly evolving AI industry.
