OpenAI hardware lead quits citing Pentagon agreement concerns

Caitlin Kalinowski announced her resignation today from her role leading the hardware team at OpenAI. Her departure is in response to the company’s agreement with the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon), which was announced just over a week ago. Kalinowski, who joined OpenAI in November 2024 after previously leading the team building augmented reality glasses at Meta, emphasized that her decision was based on principle rather than people, and expressed deep respect for CEO Sam Altman. However, she raised significant governance and ethical concerns regarding the defense deal. Kalinowski clarified that her primary issue was a governance concern, arguing that the announcement was rushed before guardrails were defined, and that such critical agreements require more time. “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,” Kalinowski wrote.

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the departure and defended the defense agreement. The company stated that the agreement creates a workable path for responsible national security uses of AI while establishing clear red lines against domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. The spokesperson added that OpenAI recognizes people have strong views and will continue to engage in discussions with employees, government, civil society, and communities around the world. The deal was announced after negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic fell through. Following those failed talks, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk. While Anthropic previously negotiated with the Pentagon, its Claude model continues to be distributed to non-defense customers by Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.

The controversy appears to have damaged OpenAI’s reputation among some consumers. Following the announcement of the Pentagon agreement, ChatGPT uninstalls surged 295%. This consumer backlash has also shifted rankings in the US App Store. As of Saturday afternoon, Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT remained the top free apps, but Claude had climbed to the No. 1 spot, leaving ChatGPT at No. 2.

Why it matters

Kalinowski’s resignation underscores the growing internal and public tension regarding the ethical implications of AI companies entering defense contracts, specifically concerning surveillance and autonomous weapons.