Caitlin Kalinowski, who had been main {hardware} and robotic engineering groups at OpenAI since November 2024, introduced she has left the corporate.
“I resigned from OpenAI,” she posted on X and LinkedIn. “I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn’t an easy call. AI has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I’m proud of what we built together.”
Her departure comes amid an escalating dispute over how far AI corporations ought to go in supporting U.S. army makes use of of the expertise. In latest days, negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic collapsed after the corporate pushed for strict limits on home surveillance and autonomous weapons. Quickly after, OpenAI reached its personal settlement with the Protection Division to deploy its fashions on a categorized authorities community.
The transfer drew criticism from some staff and observers who argued that OpenAI appeared to step in after Anthropic refused the phrases. CEO Sam Altman later acknowledged the deal’s rollout seemed “opportunistic,” and the corporate has since moved to make clear restrictions on how its programs can be utilized by the army.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the departure and offered a press release: “We believe our agreement with the Pentagon creates a workable path for responsible national security uses of AI while making clear our red lines: no domestic surveillance and no autonomous weapons. We recognize that people have strong views about these issues and we will continue to engage in discussion with employees, government, civil society and communities around the world.”
Earlier than OpenAI employed Kalinowski, she served as a {hardware} govt at Meta for practically two and a half years main the corporate’s creation of Orion, beforehand codenamed Venture Nazare, which it billed as “the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever made.” Meta unveiled its prototype glasses in September.
Earlier than main the Orion venture, she labored for greater than 9 years on digital actuality headsets at Meta-owned Oculus, and earlier than that, practically six years at Apple serving to to design MacBooks, together with Professional and Air fashions.
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