OpenAI dismantles its preparedness team as IPO nears
openai dissolved its 'preparedness' team responsible for evaluating catastrophic model risks, shifting responsibilities to other divisions. this move continues a trend of dismantling dedicated safety oversight as the company accelerates toward its ipo.
openai dissolved its 'preparedness' team, which evaluated risks like recursive self-improvement and ai-enabled cyberattacks, distributing these duties to specific verticals like biosecurity and cybersecurity within other divisions. team lead dylan scandinaro will now focus narrowly on the implications of recursive self-improving ai, while other oversight figures have departed. this follows the earlier dissolution of the 'superalignment' team and the exit of safety researchers like jan leike. critics argue the consolidation of safety roles into product teams signals a deprioritization of risk mitigation in favor of shipping 'shiny products' and securing a favorable valuation for the upcoming ipo.