With the burgeoning complexity of artificial intelligence and its impending risks, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has announced the search for a Head of Preparedness to address these challenges head-on. In a social media post, Sam Altman underscored the role's gravity: "This is a critical role at an important time; models are improving quickly and are now capable of many great things, but they are also starting to present some real challenges."
We are hiring a Head of Preparedness. This is a critical role at an important time; models are improving quickly and are now capable of many great things, but they are also starting to present some real challenges. The potential impact of models on mental health was something we…
— Sam Altman (@sama) December 27, 2025
The chosen candidate is expected to directly lead the creation of capability evaluations, threat models, and mitigations. Altman warns that the job will be a stressful one, acknowledging that the new hire will jump into the deep end pretty much immediately. This acknowledgment signals OpenAI's urgent need to rapidly and safely advance in the AI domain, where potential hazards encompass cybersecurity, mental health, and even biosecurity.
OpenAI’s Safety Systems team, within which the Head of Preparedness will play a pivotal role, is dedicated to ensuring the responsible development and deployment of the company’s AI models. As detailed on the OpenAI careers page, the role involves broad coordination and rigorous safety procedures, asserting that they have "invested deeply in Preparedness across multiple generations of frontier models, building core capability evaluations, threat models, and cross-functional mitigations."
Anticipated to possess deep technical expertise, the Head of Preparedness will be tasked with guiding complex work across multiple risk domains. They are to "own OpenAI’s preparedness strategy end-to-end by building capability evaluations, establishing threat models, and building and coordinating mitigations." Moreover, the role emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach, requiring collaboration with research, engineering, and product teams. As part of their responsibility, they will have to strike a keen balance between scientific rigor and the quick-paced expectations of this sector, as per OpenAI.
