OpenAI Safety Researcher Aleksander Madry Returns

Aleksander Madry is returning to OpenAI to work with chief scientist Jakub Pachocki on the safety and security challenges of increasingly capable AI, he said in a post on X, according to Benzinga. Madry, OpenAI's former head of preparedness, said what began as a departure a few months ago had turned into more of a sabbatical.

"We've since entered a different regime of AI progress," Madry wrote, one in which getting the safety and security challenges right "has to become a central priority." Pachocki said he asked Madry to come back to work with him on the pace and implications of AI progress and how they should inform OpenAI's strategy.

Madry announced his departure in May, saying he wanted to focus on how AI could transform the economy. As head of preparedness he worked on identifying and addressing potentially catastrophic risks from advanced models, before being reassigned to work on AI reasoning, CNBC reported at the time.