OpenAI robotics manager quits over Pentagon contract deal

Open AI – (Web Desk) – On Saturday, a robotics manager at OpenAI said she resigned because she disagreed with the company’s deal with the US government. The deal would let its AI technology be used in war and domestic surveillance.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, signed a defense contract with the Pentagon last month. This happened just hours after rival company Anthropic refused to let its AI be used for military purposes without limits.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later posted on X that the contract would be changed. He said the AI models would not be used for “domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals.” This came after criticism that the deal gave too much power to the military without checks.

Caitlin Kalinowski, who managed the robotics hardware team, shared on X that she cared deeply about her team and the work they built together. She said, however, that “surveillance of Americans without court approval and lethal AI actions without human control are serious issues that deserved more thought.”

“This was about principle, not people,” she said.

Kalinowski wrote in a follow-up post that she took issue with the haste of OpenAI’s Pentagon deal.

“To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined,” she wrote.

“It’s a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed.”

Anthropic’s refusal to authorize use of its Claude AI models had prompted backlash from US officials.

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Kalinowski previously worked at Meta, developing their augmented reality glasses.