OpenAI Safety Boss Resigns in Latest Executive Departure

Johannes Heidecke, the artificial intelligence startup’s head of safety systems, informed staff last week of his departure, according to a Friday (July 10) Wired report. His departure comes after a reorganization aimed at melding OpenAI’s safety and research teams.

In a memo to staff seen by Wired, Chief Research Officer Mark Chen said the company’s safety teams will now report to the OpenAI’s Vice President of Research and Head of Alignment Mia Glaese, who will take on a new and larger role as VP of research and safety. 

Saachi Jain, who had led safety teams at OpenAI, will move into the role of interim head of safety systems, reporting to Glaese, Wired added.

“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,” Chen wrote in the memo. “As a result, we have bigger coordination challenges around safety today than ever before.”

As Wired noted, Heidecke joined the company in 2021 as an AI safety analyst. Three years later, he became OpenAI’s head of safety systems when the previous head, Lilian Weng, left to co-found the AI startup Thinking Machines Lab.

“We’re grateful for Johannes’ contributions to OpenAI,” Chen said in a statement to Wired. “It’s 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. We’re excited for this next chapter under Mia Glaese’s leadership across research and safety.”

The news came the same day as a CNBC report that OpenAI President and Co-Founder Greg Brockman would be taking over leadership of the company’s ChatGPT product business following the departure of Fidji Simo.

Brockman was given product responsibilities following Simo’s medical leave in April, and he will continue to do so after Simo said last week she was leaving her role as CEO of Applications because of a chronic medical condition, according to the report.

The CNBC report added that these responsibilities include “OpenAI’s most important and profitable projects” and that the recent changes make Brockman the “new second-in-command at OpenAI,” while adding that OpenAI doesn’t plan to replace Simo.

In the midst of these changes, OpenAI is also facing a lawsuit from Apple, which accuses the company and two of its employees of stealing trade secrets.

“We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere,” a spokesperson for OpenAI said in a statement published by CNBC.