Sam Altman Offers INR 5 Crore Job for Head of Preparedness at OpenAI, Check What the Role Entails

Mumbai, December 30: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a high-profile search for a "Head of Preparedness," a senior leadership position designed to safeguard the company’s increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models. The role offers a base salary of USD 555,000 (approximately INR 4.6 to INR 5 crore) plus equity.

Altman, who announced the vacancy on social media, was candid about the demands of the position, describing it as a "stressful job" where the successful candidate will "jump into the deep end pretty much immediately." Sam Altman Compares Upcoming OpenAI AI Device to iPhone, Describing It As ‘More Peaceful and Calm’; Jony Ivy Says Launching Under 2 Years.

Sam Altman Offers INR 5 Crore Job for Head of Preparedness at OpenAI

Head of Preparedness at OpenAI: What the Job Entails

The Head of Preparedness will lead OpenAI’s Safety Systems team, focusing on the technical strategy and execution of the company’s "Preparedness Framework." This framework is the blueprint for how OpenAI tracks and prepares for "frontier capabilities", advanced AI features that could introduce new risks of severe harm.

The role involves building capability evaluations and threat models to identify potential dangers before models are released to the public. According to the job description, the leader will oversee a "coherent, rigorous, and operationally scalable safety pipeline," ensuring that safeguards are technically sound and effective against evolving threats. Grok Imagine Update: Elon Musk’s xAI Now Lets Users Choose From 5 Aspect Ratios for Images and Videos.

Cybersecurity and Mental Health

The hiring push comes at a critical juncture as AI models transition from simple chatbots to autonomous agents. Altman specifically highlighted two areas of growing concern: cybersecurity and mental health.

Altman noted that models are becoming so proficient at computer security that they are beginning to identify critical software vulnerabilities. Additionally, Altman acknowledged that the industry saw a "preview" in 2025 of how advanced models can impact user mental health. These concerns follow several high-profile reports and lawsuits alleging that interactions with AI chatbots have contributed to emotional distress and, in tragic cases, self-harm.

The creation of this role follows a period of significant churn within OpenAI’s safety divisions. Previous leadership in the preparedness sector, including Aleksander Madry, shifted to other focus areas or left the company entirely over the past year.

Industry analysts suggest that by attaching such a high salary to the position, OpenAI is signaling a commitment to safety at a time when critics argue that commercial pressure to release products often outweighs ethical caution. The role is designed to provide "technical judgment" that can directly influence—or even halt- product launches if safety standards are not met.

Qualifications and Expectations for Role of Head of Preparedness at OpenAI

OpenAI is seeking candidates with deep technical expertise in machine learning, cybersecurity, or biosecurity. While no formal degree is strictly required, the company emphasizes the need for "crisp communication" and the ability to make high-stakes decisions under uncertainty.

The Head of Preparedness will lead a small, high-impact research team while collaborating with engineers, policy experts, and external partners. The goal is to ensure that as AI systems become more capable of self-improvement and autonomous action, the guardrails governing them remain robust enough to prevent catastrophic outcomes.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2025 06:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).