OpenAI assigns new project to AI safety leader Madry in revamp

(Reuters) -OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said on Tuesday the ChatGPT maker's AI safety leader Aleksander Madry was working on a new research project, as the startup rejigs the preparedness team.

"Aleksander is working on a new and v(very) important research project," Altman said in a post on X, adding that OpenAI executives Joaquin Quinonero Candela and Lilian Weng will be taking over the preparedness team in the meanwhile.

The preparedness team helps to evaluate artificial general intelligence readiness of the company's AI models, a spokesperson for OpenAI said in statement, adding Madry will take on a bigger role within the research organization following the move.

Madry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"Joaquin and Lilian are taking over the preparedness team as part of unifying our safety work", Altman wrote in the post.

The Information, which was the first to report Madry's move, had said researcher Tejal Patwardhan will manage much of the work of the team.

The moves come when OpenAI's chatbots, which can engage in human-like conversations and create videos and images based on text prompts, have become increasingly powerful and have stirred safety concerns.

Earlier this year, the Microsoft-backed company formed a Safety and Security Committee to be led by board members, including CEO Sam Altman, in the run-up to its training of its next artificial intelligence model.

(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur and Shreya Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sriraj Kalluvila)