OpenAI's top robotics executive, Caitlin Kalinowski, resigned in protest over the company's defense contract with the Pentagon, citing concerns about potential domestic surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons. She criticized the haste of the deal, arguing it lacked necessary ethical guardrails and proper governance deliberation.
In response to criticism, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated the contract would be modified to explicitly prohibit the use of its models for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons. This development follows rival Anthropic's refusal to agree to unconditional military use of its AI technology, which had drawn backlash from U.S. officials.
The main topics covered are an executive resignation on ethical grounds, OpenAI's Pentagon contract and its subsequent modification, concerns over AI ethics in military and surveillance applications, and the contrasting stance of a competitor.
OpenAI's top robotics executive said Saturday she had resigned over the artificial intelligence giant's deal with the US government to allow its technology's deployment for war and domestic surveillance.
The company behind ChatGPT secured a defense contract with the Pentagon last month, hours after rival Anthropic refused to agree to unconditional military use of their technology.
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman later posted to X saying the startup would be modifying a contract so its models would not be used for "domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals," after criticism it was giving too much power to military officials without oversight.
Caitlin Kalinowski said she cared deeply about "the Robotics team and the work we built together," but that "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," she wrote in a post on X.
Kalinowski wrote in a followup post that she took issue with the haste of OpenAI's Pentagon deal.
"To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined," she wrote.
"It's a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed."
Anthropic's refusal to authorize use of its Claude AI models had prompted backlash from US officials.
Kalinowski previously worked at Meta, developing their augmented reality glasses.
The company behind ChatGPT secured a defense contract with the Pentagon last month, hours after rival Anthropic refused to agree to unconditional military use of their technology.
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman later posted to X saying the startup would be modifying a contract so its models would not be used for "domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals," after criticism it was giving too much power to military officials without oversight.
Caitlin Kalinowski said she cared deeply about "the Robotics team and the work we built together," but that "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," she wrote in a post on X.
Kalinowski wrote in a followup post that she took issue with the haste of OpenAI's Pentagon deal.
"To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined," she wrote.
"It's a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed."
Anthropic's refusal to authorize use of its Claude AI models had prompted backlash from US officials.
Kalinowski previously worked at Meta, developing their augmented reality glasses.
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