OpenAI's safety chief Johannes Heidecke exits as company merges safety and research teams

OpenAI's Head of Safety Is Leaving the Company

OpenAI's head of safety systems Johannes Heidecke told staff this week that he's leaving the company, WIRED has learned. Heidecke's departure follows a reorganization that sought to integrate OpenAI's safety and research teams. In a memo to staff seen by WIRED, chief research officer Mark Chen said OpenAI's safety teams will now report to the company's VP of research and head of alignment Mia Glaese, who will take on an expanded role as VP of research and safety. Saachi Jain, who previously led safety teams at OpenAI, will become the company's interim head of safety systems, reporting to Glaese. "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," said Chen in the memo. "As a result, we have bigger coordination challenges around safety today than ever before." Heidecke joined OpenAI in 2021 as an AI safety analyst. He took over as the company's head of safety systems in 2024, after the previous head, Lilian Weng, left to cofound Thinking Machines Lab with other OpenAI researchers. "We're grateful for Johannes' contributions to OpenAI," said Chen 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." Got a Tip?Are you a current or former OpenAI employee who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at mzeff.88. Heidecke's departure comes as OpenAI tries to launch increasingly capable AI models. Earlier this week, the company launched GPT-5.6, its most capable model to date on agentic coding tasks. However, compared to previous models, OpenAI says GPT-5.6 showed concerning forms of misaligned behavior. Heidecke is the latest safety-focused leader to depart from OpenAI in recent days. Earlier this week, OpenAI's chief futurist Joshua Achiam also told colleagues he would leave the company after nine years researching safety. It's also not just OpenAI's safety teams that are changing. Earlier this week, OpenAI's CEO of AGI deployment Fidji Simo told staff she would step down from her role after an extended medical leave. The company said that Greg Brockman would continue leading OpenAI's product teams, which he had been assigned to do in her absence, but would also take on go-to-market strategy as well.

OpenAI folds safety into research as head of safety exits

Johannes Heidecke is departing after two years as head of safety systems. The reorganisation that follows his exit looks familiar. OpenAI's head of safety systems, Johannes Heidecke, is leaving the company following an internal restructuring that merges its safety and research teams under a single leader, Wired reported on Friday. Chief Research Officer Mark Chen told staff in a memo that safety teams would now report to Mia Glaese, whose title has been expanded to VP of Research and Safety, a newly created role. Saachi Jain has been named interim head of safety systems while the company searches for Heidecke's permanent replacement. It is the second time in less than two years that OpenAI has folded its safety organisation into a structure reporting to a research lead. Heidecke's tenure Heidecke joined OpenAI in 2021 as an AI safety analyst and took over the head of safety systems role in 2024, succeeding Lilian Weng. His work covered model alignment, rule-based reward systems, and the company's preparedness evaluations for potentially dangerous model capabilities. Chen thanked Heidecke in his note to employees, saying 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." Heidecke is the latest in a string of senior safety figures to leave or be reorganised out of the company in the past two years. A pattern of disbandments OpenAI's Superalignment team, announced in 2023 with a pledge of 20% of the company's compute, was dissolved in May 2024 after its co-leads, Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, departed. Leike wrote publicly on leaving that "safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products." The AGI Readiness team followed in October 2024 when its leader Miles Brundage resigned; the Mission Alignment team, Superalignment's successor, was disbanded in February 2026 after 16 months, with its leader Joshua Achiam given the new title of "chief futurist." In April, OpenAI lost its product chief, the head of Sora, and its enterprise CTO on a single day. Heidecke's departure arrives as more senior leaders continue to exit. Fidji Simo, OpenAI's chief of applications, stepped down this month citing a prolonged medical recovery. The case for integration Glaese's expanded title signals that OpenAI wants safety to remain a named priority even under the new structure. The company launched a Safety Fellowship on 6 April, inviting external researchers to conduct independent safety and alignment work at the lab. Chen's stated logic is that embedding safety inside research gives it a seat in model decisions from the start, rather than as a final checkpoint before launch. Critics argue that a safety team reporting inside research has less structural independence, and less leverage to delay or block a product, than one that reports separately. External pressure The departure comes as OpenAI navigates intensifying external scrutiny. Forty-two state attorneys general have opened an investigation into the company, serving a subpoena on advertising, user data, and internal policies shortly after it confidentially filed for a stock market listing. Lilian Weng, who held the safety systems role before Heidecke, went on to join Thinking Machines Labs, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Murati has since warned publicly that AI governance is lagging behind model capability.

OpenAI safety chief Heidecke to leave after leadership reshuffle, says Wired By Investing.com

Investing.com -- OpenAI's head of safety, Johannes Heidecke, is leaving the artificial intelligence company following an internal reorganization that integrates its safety and research teams more closely, Wired reported on Saturday. According to the report, Chief Research Officer Mark Chen told employees that OpenAI's safety teams will now report to Vice President of Research and Head of Alignment Mia Glaese, whose responsibilities have been expanded to oversee both research and safety. Saachi Jain will serve as interim head of safety systems and report to Glaese, Wired said, citing an internal memorandum. Heidecke informed colleagues this week that he was leaving the company, according to the report. In a statement to Wired, Chen thanked Heidecke for his contributions to OpenAI and said the company believes safety work should be integrated more closely with frontier AI model development. "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, according to the report. The leadership changes follow another senior departure earlier this week. OpenAI Chief Futurist Joshua Achiam also told colleagues he would be leaving the company after nine years, Wired reported. The restructuring comes as OpenAI continues to expand its AI capabilities while facing increased scrutiny from regulators, governments and industry observers over AI safety, governance and the development of increasingly powerful frontier models.