OpenAI has disbanded a team that was designed to communicate the company\u2019s mission to the public and to its own employees. At the same time, the team\u2019s former leader has been given a new role as the company\u2019s \u201cchief futurist.\u201d<\/p>\n
OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch that the team\u2019s members have now been assigned to other roles. The news was first reported by Platformer.<\/p>\n
The disbanded team in question appears to have been formed in September of 2024. Platformer reports that the team was dedicated to promoting \u201cthe company\u2019s stated mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
An official OpenAI spokesperson described the team thusly: \u201cThe Mission Alignment project was a support function to help employees and the public understand our mission and the impact of AI. That work continues throughout the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a blog post published Wednesday, Josh Achiam, the former head of OpenAI\u2019s mission alignment team, explained his new role as the company\u2019s chief futurist. \u201cMy goal is to support OpenAI\u2019s mission \u2014 to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity \u2014 by studying how the world will change in response to AI, AGI, and beyond,\u201d Achiam wrote.<\/p>\n
Achiam noted that, in his new role, he would be collaborating with Jason Pruet, an OpenAI physicist.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for OpenAI said the rest of the mission alignment team \u2014 a group of six or seven people \u2014 had subsequently been reassigned to different parts of the company. The spokesperson couldn\u2019t say where exactly the team members had been assigned, but said that they were engaged in similar work in those roles. It was also unclear whether Achiam would have a new team as part of his \u201cfuturist\u201d role.<\/p>\n
Techcrunch event TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026: Tickets Live On June 23 in Boston, more than 1,100 founders come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediately<\/p>\n
Save up to $300 on your pass or save up to 30% with group tickets for teams of four or more. TechCrunch Founder Summit: Tickets Live On June 23 in Boston, more than 1,100 founders come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediately<\/p>\n
Save up to $300 on your pass or save up to 30% with group tickets for teams of four or more. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW<\/p>\n
The spokesperson attributed the disbanding of the team to the kinds of routine reorganizations that occur within a fast-moving company.<\/p>\n
OpenAI previously had what it called a \u201csuperalignment team\u201d \u2014 which was formed in 2023 and focused on studying long-term existential threats posed by AI \u2014 but that team was disbanded in 2024.<\/p>\n
Achiam\u2019s personal website still lists him as head of mission alignment at OpenAI, and describes him as being interested in ensuring that the \u201clong-term future of humanity is good.\u201d His LinkedIn profile shows he had served as head of mission alignment since September 2024.<\/p>\n
Correction: This story originally confused mission alignment with another, similarly named team called alignment. It has been corrected and we apologize for the error.<\/p>\n
Source: RhinoEasy News<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OpenAI has disbanded a team that was designed to communicate the company\u2019s mission to the public and to its own<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}