OpenAI Chief Futurist Joshua Achiam Announces Departure

Joshua Achiam, the chief futurist of OpenAI, notified colleagues on July 1, 2026, that he will depart the company later this month. Achiam joined the organization as an intern in 2017 and spent nearly nine years at the company, most recently serving as chief futurist and previously leading the mission alignment team.

Achiam stated that there was no specific reason for his departure, though he believes it is now possible to work on the mission of safe artificial general intelligence from outside the walls of a frontier lab. His exit follows a trend of departures from safety-focused leadership roles at the company, including former executives Jan Leike and Miles Brundage.

To fill the leadership gap, OpenAI appointed Dean Ball, a former White House AI adviser, as the new head of strategic futures. Ball joined the company this week and will briefly overlap with Achiam before the latter's final departure.