OpenAI Dissolves Safety Preparedness Team, Shifts Duties to Biotech and Cybersecurity as IPO Approaches
OpenAI has disbanded its safety preparedness team, reassigning its responsibilities to more specific areas including biotech and cybersecurity, and integrating them into existing business units. The restructuring, which occurred last month, is part of the company's broader preparation for an initial public offering. It follows the earlier dismantling of the AGI readiness and superalignment teams. Several senior executives have departed, including ethics lead Chloe Bakalar, chief futurist Josh Achiam, and security chief Johannes Heideck. Former safety preparedness team leader Dylan Scandinaro, who joined from Anthropic in February 2026, will now focus on researching the impact of recursive self-improvement AI.
AI company OpenAI officially dissolved its safety preparedness team at the end of last month. After the team's disbandment, its original responsibilities were further split into more specific areas such as biotechnology and cybersecurity, and were reorganized and merged into other existing business teams of the company.
This structural adjustment is the latest in a series of internal changes at OpenAI. The company is actively preparing for its initial public offering. Over the past few years, OpenAI has gradually broken away from its research-led model that was originally oriented toward broad exploration, and has successively disbanded the artificial general intelligence readiness team and the superalignment team. Along with frequent team restructuring, the company's top management has also seen significant personnel changes, with multiple key figures departing, including ethics lead Chloe Bakalar, chief futurist Josh Achiam, and security chief Johannes Heideck.
The future of the former head of the safety preparedness team has become clear. Dylan Scandinaro, who joined OpenAI from competitor Anthropic in February 2026, has shifted his focus after the team's dissolution, with his future work direction concentrating on exploring and researching the impact of 'recursive self-improvement' artificial intelligence.
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