OpenAI’s head of safety is leaving the company

President of OpenAI SAFETY SYSTEMS Johannes Heideck told employees this week that he was leaving the company, WIRED has learned. Heidek’s departure follows a reorganization that sought integration OpenAI Safety and research teams.

In a memo to staff seen by WIRED, chief research officer Mark Chen He said OpenAI’s safety teams will now report to the company’s vice president of research and head of alignment Mia Glaese, who will take on an expanded role as vice president of research and safety. Sachi Jain, who previously led safety teams at OpenAI, will become interim head of safety systems at the company, reporting to Glaese.

“Safety-related requirements continue to increase, we are training models at a much faster cadence, and release cycles have decreased significantly,” Chen said in the note. “As a result, we face greater safety coordination challenges today than ever before.”

Heidecke joined OpenAI in 2021 as an AI Safety Analyst. He took over as head of safety systems at the company in 2024, after the previous president, Lilian Weng, left to co-found Thinking Machines Lab with other OpenAI researchers.

“We are grateful for Johannes’ contributions to OpenAI,” Chen said in a statement to WIRED. “It is important that our safety work is integrated with frontier model development, with an earlier and more direct role in shaping lead model, product and launch decisions. We are excited about this next chapter under Mia Gleiss’ leadership in research and safety.”

Heidecke’s departure comes as OpenAI attempts to launch increasingly capable AI models. Earlier this week, the company launched GPT-5.6, the most capable model yet for proxy coding tasks. However, compared to previous models, OpenAI says GPT-5.6 demonstrated Regarding forms of deviant behavior.

Heidecke is the latest safety-focused leader to leave OpenAI in recent days. Earlier this week, OpenAI’s chief futurist said Yeshua Achayam He also told colleagues that he was leaving the company after nine years of research in safety.

And it’s not just OpenAI’s safety teams that are changing. Earlier this week, Fidji Simo, CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, told employees she would do just that She steps down from her role After a long medical leave. Greg Brockman will continue, the company said Lead OpenAI product teamswhich he has been tasked with in her absence, but will also follow a go-to-market strategy as well.