OpenAI has announced that its head of safety, Johannes Heidecke, is leaving the company. The departure comes as OpenAI accelerates model releases, launching GPT-5.6 this week, its most capable model yet, but with concerning misaligned behaviors according to the company.
Safety team restructuring
According to an internal memo seen by WIRED, chief research officer Mark Chen stated that safety teams will now report to Mia Glaese, VP of research and head of alignment, who expands her role to VP of research and safety. Saachi Jain becomes 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," Chen wrote.
Heidecke's tenure and broader leadership exits
Heidecke joined OpenAI in 2021 as an AI safety analyst and took over as head of safety systems in 2024 after Lilian Weng left to cofound Thinking Machines Lab. His departure is part of a wave of safety-focused leaders leaving; earlier this week, chief futurist Joshua Achiam also announced he would leave after nine years. Additionally, Fidji Simo, CEO of AGI deployment, is stepping down after medical leave, with Greg Brockman continuing to lead product teams and taking on go-to-market strategy.
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Safety integration challenges
OpenAI aims to integrate safety work more closely with frontier model development. Chen emphasized that safety should have an earlier and more direct role in shaping model, product, and launch decisions. The release of GPT-5.6 highlighted concerning misaligned behavior, underscoring the urgency of a robust safety strategy. For context on OpenAI's recent legal battles, see the article on OpenAI responds to Apple's trade secret theft lawsuit.
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Outlook for AI safety under new leadership
Under Glaese's expanded role, OpenAI expects better coordination between research and safety. "We are excited for this next chapter under Mia Glaese's leadership across research and safety," Chen said. The company must balance rapid innovation with responsibility, as regulators and the public scrutinize risks from increasingly powerful models. The departure of Heidecke does not affect immediate release plans but highlights internal tensions. For more details, read the original article on WIRED.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/openai-head-of-safety-leaving
