OpenAI hires Anthropic's Dylan Scandinaro to lead AI safety as "extremely powerful models" loom

OpenAI has filled its "Head of Preparedness" position with Dylan Scandinaro, who previously worked on AI safety at competitor Anthropic. CEO Sam Altman announced the hire on X, calling Scandinaro "by far the best candidate" for the role. With OpenAI working on "extremely powerful models," Altman said strong safety measures are essential.

In his own post, Scandinaro acknowledged the technology's major potential benefits but "risks of extreme and even irrecoverable harm." OpenAI recently disclosed that a new coding model received a "high" risk rating in cybersecurity evaluations.

There’s a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it!

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Dylan Scandinaro

Scandinaro's Anthropic background adds an interesting layer. The company was founded by former OpenAI employees concerned about OpenAI's product focus and what they saw as insufficient safety measures, and has since become known as one of the more safety-conscious AI developers. Altman says he plans to work with Scandinaro to implement changes across the company.