We’re still figuring out the full extent of AI’s capabilities. Sometimes these findings are surprisingly pleasant, like discovering that AI can build you a website from scratch even if you have zero coding knowledge. But sometimes, these findings are dark and disturbing, where people are losing themselves chatting nonstop with AI chatbots. So much so that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a new role at the company, a Head of Preparedness, whose job it is to worry about the dangers of AI.
OpenAI is looking to hire a Head of Preparedness
So, what will this role of Head of Preparedness at OpenAI entail? According to OpenAI’s website , it says, “As the Head of Preparedness, you will lead the technical strategy and execution of OpenAI’s Preparedness framework, our framework explaining OpenAI’s approach to tracking and preparing for frontier capabilities that create new risks of severe harm.”
In his post on X , Altman also says, “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 saw a preview of in 2025; we are just now seeing models get so good at computer security they are beginning to find critical vulnerabilities.”
Basically, it sounds like OpenAI is looking to hire someone to oversee the dangers AI poses.
This role is more important than ever
This hiring comes at a critical time. Like we said, there are hidden dangers of AI that most of us might not think about. For instance, this year alone, we’ve come across several worrying stories of people committing suicide because of AI . This is because of the natural and realistic way AI responds.
For some, this inadvertently created a companion available 24/7 who’s always agreeing with what they’re saying. Not only that, but the launch of agentic AI tools is creating a whole host of problems as well. This includes prompt injections, which could allow an attacker to take control of the AI and use it for nefarious reasons.
Agentic AI tools sound great on paper. An AI that can automate boring and repetitive tasks, why not? But issues like this suggest that there’s still a long way to go in discovering security issues and loopholes.
