Bret Taylor Leads OpenAI Foundation’s $1B Drive for A.I. Safety and Health
OpenAI, founded in 2015 as a nonprofit devoted to ensuring A.I. benefits all of humanity, drew criticism after creating a capped‑profit subsidiary in 2019 and was accused by figures such as co‑founder Elon Musk of drifting from its mission. That chapter effectively closed last year when OpenAI converted to a public benefit corporation and granted the nonprofit a 26 percent equity stake as part of the recapitalization. With that stake now valued at around $130 billion, the foundation plans to back projects that both expand A.I.’s upside and tackle its risks, according to Bret Taylor, chair of the OpenAI Foundation, now one of the world’s largest charities.
Taylor said in a March 24 update that the foundation will invest at least $1 billion this year in areas including life sciences, jobs and community programs, marking a major ramp‑up in giving and accompanied by a wave of new hires.
Taylor became OpenAI’s chair in 2023 in the wake of CEO Sam Altman’s brief ouster and reinstatement. Taylor’s resume spans chief technology officer at Facebook (now Meta), co‑CEO of Salesforce and chair of Twitter (now X), in addition to launching multiple startups, including the A.I. company Sierra.
Among the key appointments he announced is Jacob Trefethen, former managing director at grantmaker Coefficient Giving, who will become the foundation’s head of life sciences and disease cures. Taylor said health will be a major focus in 2026, citing opportunities for A.I. in Alzheimer’s research, public health datasets and breakthroughs in high‑mortality diseases.
OpenAI co‑founder Wojciech Zaremba will lead the foundation’s work on A.I. resilience. In addition to improving model safety, that program will concentrate on making tools safer for young users and on bolstering preparedness for both naturally occurring and A.I.-enabled biological threats.
The nonprofit flagged health and A.I. resilience as priorities last October when it pledged $25 billion across the two areas. That commitment followed an earlier $50 million initiative for community‑based organizations, which led to $40.5 million in grants to 208 nonprofits last year, as well as the creation of a commission to advise its giving that includes figures such as activist Dolores Huerta.
Taylor said A.I. resilience will remain a core focus of OpenAI Foundation grants in 2026, alongside efforts to address A.I.’s impact on labor and the broader economy. More details on specific grant programs and funding plans are expected in the coming months.
As the foundation builds out its strategy, it is also expanding its leadership bench. Anna Makanju, formerly OpenAI’s vice president of global impact, will become head of A.I. for civil society and philanthropy. Robert Kaiden, who previously held executive roles at Deloitte and Twitter, will serve as chief financial officer, and Jeff Arnold, founder of Depth Ventures, will be director of operations. The board plans to keep hiring through 2026 and is currently searching for an executive director.
The new commitments mark a sharp increase from OpenAI’s past philanthropy. In 2024, the most recent year with public tax data, the foundation disbursed about $7.6 million, including a $1 million grant to an A.I. safety fund at the Meridian Institute, which has since disbanded, and a $950,000 superalignment research grant to the University of California, Berkeley.
Whether this expanded war chest will meaningfully shape how A.I. affects society is still an open question. Critics worry about rising energy use, shifting labor markets and the mental‑health impact of A.I. tools as OpenAI’s for‑profit arm races to dominate the industry. Taylor, however, is casting the foundation as part of the response. “We aim to enable the use of A.I. to find solutions to humanity’s hardest problems, transform what people are capable of, and deliver real benefits in people’s lives—while working hard with partners to be ready for new challenges, and to help make society resilient, as A.I. advances,” he said.