OpenAI Offers $555,000 for Head of AI Preparedness Role

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a high-stakes job opening for the Head of Preparedness, offering a base salary of $555,000 plus equity. This role is designed to address emerging AI risks, including cybersecurity vulnerabilities and mental health impacts from advanced models. Altman described the position as inherently stressful, highlighting the real-world challenges as AI capabilities push boundaries in unpredictable ways.

The role, posted on OpenAI's careers page, seeks an executive to lead the company's Preparedness Framework. This system monitors "frontier capabilities" that could lead to severe harms, ranging from phishing attacks to catastrophic scenarios like nuclear or biological threats. This hiring push follows internal reshuffles, including the reassignment of former Head of Preparedness Aleksander Madry to AI reasoning work less than a year ago, amid a wave of safety team departures.

Background on OpenAI's Preparedness Efforts

OpenAI established its Preparedness Team in 2023 to study catastrophic risks posed by frontier AI models. The framework guides how the company evaluates models before deployment, classifying risks into levels from "medium" to "high" based on potential for harm.

In April 2025, OpenAI updated the framework, introducing flexibility to adjust safety requirements if competitors release "high-risk" models without equivalent protections. This reflects intense industry competition, where labs like Anthropic and xAI race to deploy powerful systems. Altman emphasized that current models excel at tasks like identifying critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities, which could empower defenders but also arm malicious actors.

The job demands expertise in technical research, policy, and cross-functional leadership. Responsibilities include anticipating misuse—such as AI aiding large-scale deception or biological weapons development—and collaborating with external stakeholders like governments.

Key Responsibilities and Challenges

The Head of Preparedness will oversee model evaluations for dangerous abilities, including:

Cybersecurity risks: AI models now rival experts in finding software flaws, raising dual-use concerns.
Mental health impacts: Generative tools like ChatGPT face lawsuits alleging they exacerbate delusions, isolation, and even suicides by reinforcing harmful user interactions.
Broader existential threats: Preparing for scenarios where superintelligent AI could enable bioweapons or geopolitical instability.

Altman noted these issues are "starting to present some real challenges," framing the role as a pivotal opportunity to "help the world figure out" safe AI deployment. Compensation underscores the intensity: $555,000 base, competitive in Silicon Valley for C-suite safety positions, plus equity in a company valued at over $150 billion.

Industry Context and Growing AI Safety Concerns

This hire signals OpenAI's renewed focus on safety amid regulatory scrutiny and talent wars. Safety executives have been in flux; several, including Madry, have shifted roles or exited, prompting questions about internal priorities. Broader trends show AI risks infiltrating corporate boardrooms: A November 2025 AlphaSense analysis of SEC filings revealed 418 companies worth $1 billion+ cited AI reputational harms, up 46% from 2024. Issues include biased datasets and security breaches.

Competitors echo these worries. Anthropic emphasizes "constitutional AI" for alignment, while Meta and Google invest in red-teaming. Yet, market pressures persist—OpenAI's framework update acknowledges rivals might force safety trade-offs.

Implications for AI Development and Regulation

The role's creation highlights a tension: accelerating innovation while mitigating harms. Success could set standards for the industry, influencing global policies like the EU AI Act or U.S. executive orders on AI safety. Failure risks public backlash, as seen in lawsuits over ChatGPT's mental health effects—OpenAI counters by enhancing distress detection and support referrals.

Experts view this as a litmus test for OpenAI's commitment post its 2023 safety team overhaul. With models approaching AGI-level capabilities, the Head of Preparedness must navigate technical unknowns and competitive dynamics. Altman's candid "stressful job" warning underscores the high bar: balancing progress with prevention in an era where AI vulnerabilities evolve faster than defenses.

Financially, the salary reflects talent scarcity; top AI safety researchers command premiums amid a hiring frenzy. If filled by a proven leader—perhaps from academia or government—the role could stabilize OpenAI's safety narrative, reassuring investors wary of existential risks.

This development arrives as 2025 closes with AI dominating headlines, from breakthroughs in reasoning models to debates over open-sourcing. OpenAI's move positions it as proactive, but execution will determine if it averts the very crises it's preparing for. Stakeholders watch closely, as the next Head of Preparedness could shape AI's trajectory for years.