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On May 28, 2024, OpenAI announced a new Board safety committee and said it had recently begun training its next frontier model. The announcement did not identify the model or give a release date. The committee’s first assignment was to review OpenAI’s safety and security processes and safeguards over 90 days.

What OpenAI announced in May 2024

OpenAI said the Safety and Security Committee would make recommendations to the full Board about critical safety and security decisions across the company’s projects and operations. Its initial task was a 90-day review of OpenAI’s processes and safeguards.

The company made that announcement alongside its statement that training had recently begun on a “next frontier model.” OpenAI said it expected the resulting systems to bring new capabilities, but it did not provide the model’s name, technical details, or a launch timetable. The phrase “latest model” in the original headline should therefore not be read as an official model name or as evidence of a release.

At formation, OpenAI named Bret Taylor as chair, with directors Adam D’Angelo, Nicole Seligman, and Sam Altman as members. It also listed technical and policy experts Aleksander Madry, Lilian Weng, John Schulman, Matt Knight, and Jakub Pachocki. Former cybersecurity officials Rob Joyce and John Carlin were to be consulted. An update on June 18, 2024, added retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone. OpenAI’s announcement and subsequent update set out these appointments.

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Which model was OpenAI training?

The May 28 announcement does not say. It identifies the project only as OpenAI’s “next frontier model,” so assigning it a later public model name would go beyond what the announcement establishes. Nor does that statement establish that the training project led to any particular later release.

What changed after the 90-day review?

In a September 16, 2024 update, OpenAI said the committee had completed its initial review and that the company was adopting recommendations across five areas:

  • Independent governance
  • Stronger security measures
  • Transparency
  • External collaboration
  • Unified safety frameworks for model development and monitoring

OpenAI also described a more formal governance role: the committee would become an independent Board oversight committee focused on safety and security, chaired by Carnegie Mellon professor Zico Kolter. This followed the May announcement, which named Bret Taylor as chair; the two names refer to successive stages, not concurrent chair appointments. OpenAI’s September update describes the review and the governance changes.

The September statement said the Board and committee would oversee major model launches, with authority to delay a release until safety concerns were addressed. The Associated Press later reported in November 2025 that the panel had authority to halt releases it considered unsafe. These are descriptions of governance authority, not evidence that the committee independently audited the 2024 training run or blocked a specific model.

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How OpenAI described its model-release safety threshold

In a May 21, 2024 safety update, OpenAI said it would not release a new model that crossed the “Medium” risk threshold in its Preparedness Framework until sufficient interventions brought the post-mitigation score back to “Medium.” The company described safety work as spanning the model lifecycle, from pre-training through deployment. This is OpenAI’s stated policy; the existence of a threshold and oversight committee does not by itself prove that every risk will be prevented or that a particular model meets the policy. OpenAI’s safety update explains its framework.

How the committee’s role evolved

Point of comparison May 28, 2024 announcement September 16, 2024 update
Role Recommend safety and security decisions to the full Board. Independent Board oversight committee focused on safety and security.
Chair named Bret Taylor. Zico Kolter.
Launch decisions The initial announcement described a recommendations role. OpenAI said the Board and committee could delay major model launches until safety concerns were addressed.
Review outcome A 90-day review of processes and safeguards was announced. OpenAI said the review was complete and recommendations were being adopted in five areas.
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Does a later delayed model refer to the 2024 training project?

No such connection is established by the cited reporting. The Associated Press reported on September 29, 2026, that OpenAI was delaying the release of a new model over security concerns. That is a separate, later development; the report does not identify the model as the unnamed project OpenAI said it began training in May 2024. The AP report concerns the later delay, not the identity or outcome of the 2024 training run.

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