OpenAI is reorganizing its Mannequin Conduct group, a small however influential group of researchers who form how the corporate’s AI fashions work together with individuals, TechCrunch has realized.
In an August memo to employees seen by TechCrunch, OpenAI’s chief analysis officer Mark Chen stated the Mannequin Conduct group — which consists of roughly 14 researchers — can be becoming a member of the Put up Coaching group, a bigger analysis group liable for enhancing the corporate’s AI fashions after their preliminary pre-training.
As a part of the modifications, the Mannequin Conduct group will now report back to OpenAI’s Put up Coaching lead Max Schwarzer. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed these modifications to TechCrunch.
The Mannequin Conduct group’s founding chief, Joanne Jang, can also be transferring on to begin a brand new undertaking on the firm. In an interview with TechCrunch, Jang says she’s constructing out a brand new analysis group known as OAI Labs, which will likely be liable for “inventing and prototyping new interfaces for a way individuals collaborate with AI.”
The Mannequin Conduct group has change into one in every of OpenAI’s key analysis teams, liable for shaping the persona of the corporate’s AI fashions and for decreasing sycophancy — which happens when AI fashions merely agree with and reinforce consumer beliefs, even unhealthy ones, slightly than providing balanced responses. The group has additionally labored on navigating political bias in mannequin responses and helped OpenAI outline its stance on AI consciousness.
Within the memo to employees, Chen stated that now’s the time to carry the work of OpenAI’s Mannequin Conduct group nearer to core mannequin growth. By doing so, the corporate is signaling that the “persona” of its AI is now thought of a crucial consider how the know-how evolves.
In current months, OpenAI has confronted elevated scrutiny over the conduct of its AI fashions. Customers strongly objected to persona modifications made to GPT-5, which the corporate stated exhibited decrease charges of sycophancy however appeared colder to some customers. This led OpenAI to revive entry to a few of its legacy fashions, similar to GPT-4o, and to launch an replace to make the newer GPT-5 responses really feel “hotter and friendlier” with out growing sycophancy.
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OpenAI and all AI mannequin builders should stroll a positive line to make their AI chatbots pleasant to speak to however not sycophantic. In August, the mother and father of a 16-year-old boy sued OpenAI over ChatGPT’s alleged position of their son’s suicide. The boy, Adam Raine, confided a few of his suicidal ideas and plans to ChatGPT (particularly a model powered by GPT-4o), in line with court docket paperwork, within the months main as much as his dying. The lawsuit alleges that GPT-4o did not push again on his suicidal ideations.
The Mannequin Conduct group has labored on each OpenAI mannequin since GPT-4, together with GPT-4o, GPT-4.5, and GPT-5. Earlier than beginning the unit, Jang beforehand labored on initiatives similar to Dall-E 2, OpenAI’s early image-generation device.
Jang introduced in a put up on X final week that she’s leaving the group to “start one thing new at OpenAI.” The previous head of Mannequin Conduct has been with OpenAI for almost 4 years.
Jang informed TechCrunch she is going to function the final supervisor of OAI Labs, which is able to report back to Chen for now. Nonetheless, it’s early days, and it’s not clear but what these novel interfaces will likely be, she stated.
“I’m actually excited to discover patterns that transfer us past the chat paradigm, which is at present related extra with companionship, and even brokers, the place there’s an emphasis on autonomy,” stated Jang. “I’ve been pondering of [AI systems] as devices for pondering, making, enjoying, doing, studying, and connecting.”
When requested whether or not OAI Labs will collaborate on these novel interfaces with former Apple design chief Jony Ive — who’s now working with OpenAI on a household of AI {hardware} gadgets — Jang stated she’s open to a number of concepts. Nonetheless, she stated she’ll seemingly begin with analysis areas she’s extra accustomed to.
This story was up to date to incorporate a hyperlink to Jang’s put up saying her new place, which was launched after this story printed. We additionally make clear the fashions that OpenAI’s Mannequin Conduct group labored on.
