John Schulman, the co-founder of OpenAI, recently announced his departure from the Microsoft-backed company to join Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup funded by Amazon. This move comes shortly after the dissolution of OpenAI’s superalignment team, which was dedicated to ensuring human control over advanced AI systems. Schulman, who led OpenAI’s post-training team focused on AI model refinement, expressed his desire to deepen his focus on AI alignment and return to hands-on technical work in a social media post.
The departure of Schulman follows the exits of Jan Leike and Ilya Sutskever, leaders of the superalignment team at OpenAI. Leike also joined Anthropic, while Sutskever announced his involvement in a new venture, Safe Superintelligence Inc. These changes in leadership come in the wake of internal strife at OpenAI, which saw co-founder and CEO Sam Altman being pushed out by the board, triggering protests from employees and subsequent resignations of key board members.
Schulman’s decision to leave OpenAI does not stem from a lack of support for his work on AI alignment within the company. In fact, company leaders have shown a strong commitment to investing in this area. To enhance safety protocols, OpenAI has been collaborating with the US AI Safety Institute to develop an agreement that would provide early access to their next foundation model for joint AI evaluation research. Additionally, OpenAI remains dedicated to allocating 20% of its computing resources to safety initiatives.
Future Direction of OpenAI
Despite the recent leadership changes and internal challenges, OpenAI continues to pursue innovation in the field of artificial intelligence. Co-founder Greg Brockman’s decision to take a sabbatical for the rest of the year indicates a period of reflection and potential strategic realignment within the organization. With a renewed focus on safety and a commitment to collaboration with external partners, OpenAI is poised to advance the science of AI evaluation and development.
John Schulman’s departure from OpenAI represents a significant shift in the company’s leadership landscape. As he transitions to Anthropic to deepen his focus on AI alignment, OpenAI faces a period of restructuring and strategic reassessment. The continued commitment to safety initiatives and partnerships with external organizations demonstrate OpenAI’s dedication to advancing the field of artificial intelligence responsibly.