OpenAI has disbanded a crew that was designed to speak the corporate’s mission to the general public and to its personal staff. On the similar time, the crew’s former chief has been given a brand new position as the corporate’s “chief futurist.”
OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that the crew’s members have now been assigned to different roles. The information was first reported by Platformer.
The disbanded crew in query seems to have been formed in September of 2024. Platformer stories that the crew was devoted to selling “the corporate’s acknowledged mission to make sure that synthetic normal intelligence advantages all of humanity.”
An official OpenAI spokesperson described the crew thusly: “The Mission Alignment mission was a assist perform to assist staff and the general public perceive our mission and the influence of AI. That work continues all through the group.”
In a blog post printed Wednesday, Josh Achiam, the previous head of OpenAI’s mission alignment crew, defined his new position as the corporate’s chief futurist. “My aim is to assist OpenAI’s mission — to make sure that synthetic normal intelligence advantages all of humanity — by learning how the world will change in response to AI, AGI, and past,” Achiam wrote.
Achiam famous that, in his new position, he could be collaborating with Jason Pruet, an OpenAI physicist.
A spokesperson for OpenAI stated the remainder of the mission alignment crew — a gaggle of six or seven individuals — had subsequently been reassigned to completely different components of the corporate. The spokesperson couldn’t say the place precisely the crew members had been assigned, however stated that they had been engaged in related work in these roles. It was additionally unclear whether or not Achiam would have a brand new crew as a part of his “futurist” position.
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June 23, 2026
The spokesperson attributed the disbanding of the crew to the sorts of routine reorganizations that happen inside a fast-moving firm.
OpenAI beforehand had what it known as a “superalignment crew” — which was formed in 2023 and targeted on learning long-term existential threats posed by AI — however that crew was disbanded in 2024.
Achiam’s personal website nonetheless lists him as head of mission alignment at OpenAI, and describes him as being taken with making certain that the “long-term way forward for humanity is nice.” His LinkedIn profile reveals he had served as head of mission alignment since September 2024.
Correction: This story initially confused mission alignment with one other, equally named crew known as alignment. It has been corrected and we apologize for the error.
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