TechCrunch Industry News OpenAI disbands mission alignment team; plus, xAI lays out interplanetary ambitions in public all-hands
Feb 12, 2026
OpenAI disbands its mission alignment team and reassigns members while creating a new Chief Futurist role. xAI published a full all-hands outlining Musk's interplanetary plans, rocket-engine ambitions, and a lunar factory vision. The company also revealed reorganizations, usage and moderation concerns, and claims about AI-designed hardware and space-based data centers.
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Mission Alignment Team Reorganized
- OpenAI disbanded its Mission Alignment Project and reassigned members across the company during a routine reorg.
- Josh Akiam moved to a Chief Futurist role to study AI's long-term societal impacts.
Chief Futurist Role Defined
- Josh Akiam will study how AI and AGI change the world in his new Chief Futurist role.
- He will collaborate with OpenAI physicist Jason Prué on future-focused work.
Reorg Framing And Unanswered Questions
- OpenAI framed the change as a routine reorganization and noted prior similar disbanding of a super-alignment team.
- Uncertainty remains about where former team members now work and whether Akiam will have a new team.