Technical Lead, Safety Research at OpenAI

San Francisco, California, United States

OpenAI Logo
$460,000 – $555,000Compensation
Expert & Leadership (9+ years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Artificial Intelligence, TechnologyIndustries

Requirements

  • Strong track record of practical research on safety and alignment, ideally in AI and LLMs, and have led large research efforts in the past
  • 4+ years of experience in the field of AI safety, especially in areas like RLHF, adversarial training, robustness, fairness & biases
  • Hold a Ph.D. or other degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related field
  • Experience in safety work for AI model deployment
  • In-depth understanding of deep learning research and/or strong engineering skills
  • Team player who enjoys collaborative work environments
  • Excited about OpenAI’s mission of building safe, universally beneficial AGI and aligned with OpenAI’s charter
  • Passion for AI safety and making cutting-edge AI models safer for real-world use

Responsibilities

  • Set the research directions and strategies to make our AI systems safer, more aligned and more robust
  • Set north star goals and milestones for new research directions, and develop challenging evaluations to track progress
  • Personally drive or lead research in new exploratory directions to demonstrate feasibility and scalability of the approaches
  • Coordinate and collaborate with cross-functional teams, including the rest of the research organization, T&S, policy and related alignment teams, to ensure that our AI meets the highest safety standards
  • Actively evaluate and understand the safety of our models and systems, identifying areas of risk and proposing mitigation strategies
  • Conduct state-of-the-art research on AI safety topics such as RLHF, adversarial training, robustness, and more
  • Implement new methods in OpenAI’s core model training and launch safety improvements in OpenAI’s products
  • Work horizontally across safety research and related teams to ensure different technical approaches work together to achieve strong safety results

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

AI Safety ResearchMisalignment DetectionAI EvaluationsAGI SafetyResearch LeadershipSafety SystemsHuman OversightGeneralizable Reasoning

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the salary range for the Technical Lead, Safety Research position?

The salary range is $460K - $555K.

Is this role remote or based in an office?

This role is based in San Francisco, CA, with a hybrid work model requiring 3 days in the office per week. OpenAI offers relocation assistance to new employees.

What skills and experience are required for this role?

Candidates need a strong track record of practical research on safety and alignment, ideally in AI and LLMs, and experience leading large research efforts. The role involves state-of-the-art research on topics like RLHF, adversarial training, and robustness.

What is the team culture like at OpenAI's Safety Research team?

The Safety Systems and Safety Research teams focus on advancing AI safety for safe AGI deployment, fostering a culture of trust and transparency, and working on exploratory research to improve safety common sense, reasoning, evaluations, and human oversight.

What makes a strong candidate for this Technical Lead role?

Strong candidates have a proven track record of practical research on safety and alignment in AI and LLMs, experience leading large research efforts, and excitement about setting research directions for safer AI systems.

OpenAI

Develops safe and beneficial AI technologies

About OpenAI

OpenAI develops and deploys artificial intelligence technologies aimed at benefiting humanity. The company creates advanced AI models capable of performing various tasks, such as automating processes and enhancing creativity. OpenAI's products, like Sora, allow users to generate videos from text descriptions, showcasing the versatility of its AI applications. Unlike many competitors, OpenAI operates under a capped profit model, which limits the profits it can make and ensures that excess earnings are redistributed to maximize the social benefits of AI. This commitment to safety and ethical considerations is central to its mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) serves all of humanity.

San Francisco, CaliforniaHeadquarters
2015Year Founded
$18,433.2MTotal Funding
LATE_VCCompany Stage
AI & Machine LearningIndustries
1,001-5,000Employees

Benefits

Health insurance
Dental and vision insurance
Flexible spending account for healthcare and dependent care
Mental healthcare service
Fertility treatment coverage
401(k) with generous matching
20-week paid parental leave
Life insurance (complimentary)
AD&D insurance (complimentary)
Short-term/long-term disability insurance (complimentary)
Optional buy-up life insurance
Flexible work hours and unlimited paid time off (we encourage 4+ weeks per year)
Annual learning & development stipend
Regular team happy hours and outings
Daily catered lunch and dinner
Travel to domestic conferences

Risks

Elon Musk's legal battle may pose financial and reputational challenges for OpenAI.
Customizable ChatGPT personas could lead to privacy and ethical concerns.
Competitors like Anthropic raising capital may intensify market competition.

Differentiation

OpenAI's capped profit model prioritizes ethical AI development over unlimited profit.
OpenAI's AI models, like Sora, offer unique video creation from text descriptions.
OpenAI's focus on AGI aims to create AI systems smarter than humans.

Upsides

OpenAI's $6.6 billion funding boosts its AI research and computational capacity.
Customizable ChatGPT personas enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
OpenAI's 'Operator' AI agent could revolutionize workforce automation by 2025.

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