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 individuals, TechCrunch has discovered.
In an August memo to workers seen by TechCrunch, OpenAI’s chief analysis officer Mark Chen mentioned the Mannequin Habits staff — which consists of roughly 14 researchers — can be becoming a member of the Submit Coaching staff, a bigger analysis group accountable for bettering 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 Submit 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 venture 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 accountable for “inventing and prototyping new interfaces for a way individuals collaborate with AI.”
The Mannequin Habits staff has turn into one in every of OpenAI’s key analysis teams, accountable 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, reasonably 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 workers, Chen mentioned 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 “persona” of its AI is now thought of a crucial think about how the know-how evolves.
In current months, OpenAI has confronted elevated scrutiny over the habits of its AI fashions. Customers strongly objected to persona modifications made to GPT-5, which the corporate mentioned exhibited decrease charges of sycophancy however appeared colder to some customers. This led OpenAI to revive entry to a few of its legacy fashions, reminiscent of 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 accordance with court docket paperwork, within the months main as much as his dying. 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 reminiscent of Dall-E 2, OpenAI’s early image-generation instrument.
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 instructed 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 mentioned.
“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,” mentioned 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 a way individuals 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 mentioned she’s open to a lot of concepts. Nonetheless, she mentioned she’ll possible begin with analysis areas she’s extra accustomed to.
This story was up to date to incorporate a hyperlink to Jang’s publish saying her new place, which was launched after this story printed. We additionally make clear the fashions that OpenAI’s Mannequin Habits staff labored on.
