OpenAI hardware chief quits after Pentagon deal

MANILA, Philippines – Caitlin Kalinowski, the head of OpenAI’s hardware team, has resigned in the wake of the company’s agreement with the US Department of Defense.

In a social media post on Sunday, March 8 (Philippine time), Kalinowski said that while artificial intelligence has an important role in national security, “surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got.”

Kalinowski added the resignation “was was about principle, not people,” and that she holds “deep respect” for Sam Altman and the team at OpenAI.

In a separate post on X, Kalinowski added, “To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined. It’s a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed.”

Prior to joining OpenAI in 2024, Kalinowski was leading augmented reality hardware development at Meta Platforms.

A TechCrunch report confirmed the departure, with an OpenAI spokesperson saying in a statement, “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.”

Agreement with US Defense Department

The agreement between OpenAI and the Department of Defense, which the Trump administration has renamed the Department of War, enforces three red lines: OpenAI technology cannot be used for mass domestic surveillance, to direct autonomous weapons systems, or for any high-stakes automated decisions.

Their agreement comes after talks between rival company Anthropic and the Department of Defense fell through, caused by a dispute over the company’s insistence on safeguards the defense department said went too far.

OpenAI announced its own agreement with the defense department in the wake of the Anthropic agreement falling through.

Anthropic was later deemed a supply chain risk by the Pentagon. – Rappler.com