A senior robotics manager at OpenAI has resigned in protest over the company’s recent agreement with the U.S. government, raising concerns about the potential use of artificial intelligence in warfare and domestic surveillance.
Caitlin Kalinowski, who worked on the hardware team within OpenAI’s robotics division, announced her resignation on Saturday through a post on X. She said her decision was driven by concerns about how the company’s AI technology could be deployed by the military without sufficient safeguards.
OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, secured a defense contract with the United States Department of Defense last month. The agreement reportedly allows the military to deploy certain OpenAI technologies, a move that sparked debate within the tech community.
The deal was announced shortly after rival AI firm Anthropic declined to approve unconditional military use of its own AI models, including its Claude system.
Following public criticism, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later stated on X that the company would revise the contract to prevent its models from being used for “domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.”
Kalinowski said her decision was based on principle rather than personal disagreements with colleagues. In her statement, she emphasized that the issues surrounding AI deployment in surveillance and warfare required more careful oversight.
“Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got,” she wrote.
In a follow-up post, Kalinowski clarified that her main concern was the speed at which the agreement was announced, arguing that critical ethical and governance safeguards had not been clearly defined beforehand.
“To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined,” she said. “It’s a governance concern first and foremost. These decisions are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed.”
Before joining OpenAI, Kalinowski previously worked at Meta, where she contributed to the development of augmented reality glasses and other advanced hardware technologies.
Her resignation highlights the growing debate within the technology sector over how rapidly advancing AI systems should be regulated, particularly when they are integrated into military and security operations.
