OpenAI robotics head Caitlin Kalinowski resigns over Sam Altman's Pentagon deal; says in LinkedIn post: There are lines that deserve more ...

Caitlin Kalinowski, head of robotics and consumer hardware at OpenAI has now announced her resignation. Kalinowski cited concerns over the company’s recent agreement with the US Department of Defense. In a post shared on professional social media LinkedIn Kalinowski wrote that the decision to deploy OpenAI’s models on Pentagon classified networks was made too quickly and with any sufficient safeguards. “AI has an important role in national security,” Kalinowski wrote. “But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got.” She added that while she respects CEO Sam Altman and the team, the Pentagon deal was announced “without the guardrails defined,” calling it a governance issue that should not have been rushed.

OpenAI and Pentagon deal

OpenAI struck a ‘hastily’ arranged deal with the Pentagon on the same day when the Department of War ‘kicked out’ Anthropic because the company declined to comply with its demands.

OpenAI defended the agreement, saying it had built in additional safeguards to prevent misuse. The company reiterated that its “red lines” prohibit use of its technology in domestic surveillance or fully 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,” OpenAI said in a statement to Reuters.

Caitlin Kalinowski’s career

Kalinowski joined OpenAI in 2024 after leading augmented reality hardware development at Meta Platforms. Her departure highlights growing tensions within the AI industry over how advanced models should be used in defense and surveillance, particularly as companies expand into sensitive government contracts.

OpenAI VP leaves hours after Sam Altman's Pentagon deal, joins Anthropic

Recently, OpenAI VP of Research Max Schwarzer has left to join Claude-maker OpenAI. In a post on microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter), Schwarzer said that many of the people he “trusts most and respects” have joined Anthropic over the last couple of years. Max Schwarzer was an early participant in the o1 inference model and led the post-training of the company's o1 and o3 models. At OpenAI, he also headed the post-training team, delivering GPT-5, 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3-Codex. The exit comes after the Sam Altman-led AI company announced an agreement with the Department of War for deploying advanced AI systems in classified environments. Since the announcement, around 1.5 million subscribers have reportedly left ChatGPT amid fierce public blowback over whether the agreement actually protected Americans from AI-powered surveillance.

Notably, Anthropic already rejected an update to its contract with the Pentagon because it felt the language didn’t adhere to the company’s redlines around the use of AI in mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.