CEO Sam Altman unveils role focused on mitigating advanced AI risks.
A hiring search has been opened by OpenAI for a senior position titled Head of Preparedness, with the announcement delivered publicly by chief executive Sam Altman through a post on X, initiating recruitment for a role positioned at the center of the company’s work on advanced artificial intelligence risks.
The move authorizes a new round of candidate outreach for a high-level safety post. It begins now. The announcement links the role to preparedness efforts that the company first launched in 2023, extending those initiatives into a dedicated leadership function with responsibility for evaluating and mitigating risks tied to frontier AI systems.
Procedural details
End-to-end ownership of preparedness strategy is assigned to the role, with the position tasked to lead the function across its full lifecycle rather than in a limited advisory capacity. Strategy comes first. The Head of Preparedness is expected to design, run, and continuously update preparedness work as a coherent program, rather than a collection of isolated reviews or assessments, according to the responsibilities laid out in the job listing.
Capability evaluations sit alongside strategy, with the role responsible for building and maintaining processes that assess the abilities of advanced AI systems as they develop. These evaluations are framed as structured efforts, not one-off tests. They are intended to inform how risks are identified before systems are deployed or scaled.
Threat models form another required component of the position. Establishing and maintaining those models is explicitly named, tying the role to ongoing documentation of potential failure modes and misuse scenarios. The models are not static. Maintenance is part of the job, signaling recurring updates as systems change.
Coordination across risk areas is also assigned to the role, placing the Head of Preparedness in a cross-cutting position that connects different domains rather than operating within a single vertical. The risk areas specified include cybersecurity, biological risks, and mental health-related concerns. Each category is named directly. No others are listed.
The legal and regulatory framing of the role is defined through its focus on risk evaluation and mitigation for frontier AI systems. The responsibilities are scoped around evaluation and mitigation, not policy advocacy or external enforcement. The remit stays internal. Frontier systems are the boundary.
Company or party response
The announcement was delivered by Sam Altman, who described the position as both critical and stressful, emphasizing the weight of responsibility attached to the work. The characterization came directly from company leadership rather than through a third-party release or regulator. Stress was part of the description, and so was the importance.
An official job listing accompanied the announcement, setting out the scope and responsibilities of the role in formal terms. The listing details the breadth of the mandate, including strategic leadership, evaluation frameworks, and threat modeling obligations. It does not frame the role as experimental or temporary. The scope is broad.
The company’s response positions the role as an extension of existing preparedness work rather than a new direction. Preparedness efforts launched in 2023 are cited as the foundation on which this role builds. The hiring is presented as reinforcement. Continuity is emphasized.
No timeline for hiring completion is provided in the announcement or listing. There is no named internal reporting structure disclosed. Compensation details are not included in the public materials referenced. The response stays focused on responsibilities.
What happens next
Recruitment for the Head of Preparedness role is now underway, with candidates expected to be evaluated against the criteria outlined in the job listing. Selection has not been completed. Interviews will follow. The process is open.
The role, once filled, will assume responsibility for leading preparedness strategy and coordinating mitigation efforts across the specified risk areas. Until then, the duties remain unassigned to a named individual. The position exists on paper, not yet in practice.
The hiring effort extends the company’s preparedness program that began in 2023, formalizing leadership for that work through a single senior role. The next step is an appointment. No further actions have been announced.
