# Paul Christiano Joins Foundation Board and Observes OpenAI PBC Board

Times of AI Desk · 2026-09-09 · Frontier Labs

[https://timesof.ai/2026/09/openai-paul-christiano-foundation-board](https://timesof.ai/2026/09/openai-paul-christiano-foundation-board)

> Paul Christiano — ARC founder, former OpenAI alignment lead, CAISI/NIST senior advisor — joins the OpenAI Foundation Board and its Safety and Security Committee, chaired by Zico Kolter. He will also be a non-voting observer on the separate Group PBC board.

Christiano is the alignment brand OpenAI lost and is now borrowing back as a Foundation director and Group PBC board observer. The open question is whether observer status can stop a run, or only write memos.

**OpenAI** (September 9) published **“Paul Christiano joins OpenAI Foundation Board.”** **Non-voting observer** on the **OpenAI Group PBC** board. Joins Foundation **Safety and Security Committee** with chair **Zico Kolter**. Background: **CAISI/NIST** Senior Tech Advisor (two administrations); founder **ARC**; led OpenAI alignment **2017–2021** (RLHF).

**Correction and source review — October 14, 2026:** Clarified that Christiano joins the Foundation Board; his non-voting observer status applies to the separate Group PBC board. Removed unsourced incident-timing and state-review context from this appointment report.

## Sources

- [OpenAI: Paul Christiano joins OpenAI Foundation Board (September 9, 2026)](https://openai.com/index/paul-christiano-joins-openai-foundation-board/)