‘This was about principle, not people’—OpenAI’s robotics hardware lead resigns

Caitlin Kalinowski, an OpenAI employee who oversaw hardware within the robotics division, is leaving the company. Kalinowski’s decision came shortly after OpenAI’s deal with the Pentagon was announced in late February.

In a post on social media, Kalinowski explained that the decision was about “principle” in regard to the recent deal. “I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn’t an easy call,” Kalinowski wrote. “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.”

OpenAI’s deal with the Pentagon came to fruition after a similar deal with Anthropic fell through. Anthropic refused to let its product be used for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems without proper oversight. 

After Anthropic refused a deal with the Pentagon,  the Pentagon declared the company a “supply chain risk” and threatened to punish the company, which Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, said he would fight in court. After the Pentagon deal fell through, Anthropic’s chatbot Claude rose to No. 1 in the Apple App Store’s free app rankings. 

Other AI staffers, from both OpenAI and Google, are also supporting Anthropic’s decision not to make a deal with the Pentagon, too. An online open letter and petition titled “We Will Not Be Divided” urged AI leaders to resist the Department of War’s demands. At present, the petition has nearly 1,000 signatures from employees at both companies. It said, “They’re trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in.”

The petition continued, “We hope our leaders will put aside their differences and stand together to continue to refuse the Department of War’s current demands for permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight.”

Regardless of the opposition, OpenAI is holding their ground on the deal, while saying that it included additional safeguards within it. A spokesperson from the company told Fast Company in an email, “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.” 

The statement continued, “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.” The spokesperson added that the company doesn’t plan to replace Kalinowski.

Still, some experts predict that these kinds of resignations are likely to continue. AI governance leader Zahra Timsah, PhD, CEO of i-GENTIC AI, tells Fast Company, “People should not be surprised that some AI researchers are uncomfortable with military partnerships.” Timsah says that’s especially true given, “Many of them entered the field because they care deeply about safety and societal impact, so when AI moves into defense or surveillance contexts, it becomes a personal line” for many in the field.

Still, Timsah says we can expect AI to continue to advance in terms of government use. “The responsible path forward is not pretending the technology won’t be used, it’s building strong governance around how it’s used.” Timsah adds that those guardrails might look like “defined access, clear authorization layers, and full traceability of what AI systems are doing and who is using them.”

As for Kalinowski, the robotics leader plans to continue her work in the industry. “I’m taking a little time, but I remain very focused on building responsible physical AI,” she said in response to a question on her post.

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