OpenAI is reorganizing its Mannequin Habits staff, a small however influential group of researchers who form how the corporate’s AI fashions work together with folks, TechCrunch has discovered.
In an August memo to employees seen by TechCrunch, OpenAI’s chief analysis officer Mark Chen stated the Mannequin Habits staff — which consists of roughly 14 researchers — can be becoming a member of the Publish Coaching staff, 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 Habits staff will now report back to OpenAI’s Publish Coaching lead Max Schwarzer. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed these modifications to TechCrunch.
The Mannequin Habits staff’s founding chief, Joanne Jang, can be transferring on to begin a brand new challenge on the firm. In an interview with TechCrunch, Jang says she’s constructing out a brand new analysis staff referred to as OAI Labs, which will likely be liable for “inventing and prototyping new interfaces for the way folks collaborate with AI.”
The Mannequin Habits staff has develop into certainly one of OpenAI’s key analysis teams, liable for shaping the character of the corporate’s AI fashions and for lowering sycophancy — which happens when AI fashions merely agree with and reinforce person beliefs, even unhealthy ones, moderately than providing balanced responses. The staff 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 could be the time to carry the work of OpenAI’s Mannequin Habits staff nearer to core mannequin growth. By doing so, the corporate is signaling that the “character” of its AI is now thought-about a crucial consider how the expertise evolves.
In current months, OpenAI has confronted elevated scrutiny over the conduct of its AI fashions. Customers strongly objected to character 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, resembling 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 tremendous line to make their AI chatbots pleasant to speak to however not sycophantic. In August, the dad and mom 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 courtroom paperwork, within the months main as much as his demise. The lawsuit alleges that GPT-4o didn’t push again on his suicidal ideations.
The Mannequin Habits staff 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 resembling Dall-E 2, OpenAI’s early image-generation device.
Jang introduced in a publish on X final week that she’s leaving the staff to “start one thing new at OpenAI.” The previous head of Mannequin Habits has been with OpenAI for practically 4 years.
Jang advised TechCrunch she’s going to function the overall supervisor of OAI Labs, which is able to report back to Chen for now. Nevertheless, 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, taking part in, doing, studying, and connecting.”
🧪 i’m beginning oai labs: a research-driven group targeted on inventing and prototyping new interfaces for the way folks collaborate with ai.i’m excited to discover patterns that transfer us past chat and even brokers — towards new paradigms and devices for pondering, making,…— Joanne Jang (@joannejang) September 5, 2025
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 lot of concepts. Nevertheless, she stated she’ll doubtless begin with analysis areas she’s extra conversant in.
This story was up to date to incorporate a hyperlink to Jang’s publish asserting her new place, which was launched after this story printed. We additionally make clear the fashions that OpenAI’s Mannequin Habits staff labored on.
