OpenAI Robotics Head Quits Over Pentagon Partnership

Caitlin Kalinowski announced her departure from the artificial intelligence startup in a post on the social media platform X Saturday (March 7).

The head of OpenAI’s robotics team resigned Saturday, citing the company’s deal to deploy its AI models within the Pentagon’s classified network as the cause.

“This wasn’t an easy call. 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. This was about principle, not people.”

A report by Bloomberg News says that OpenAI confirmed Kalinowski’s resignation and argues the company’s Defense Department agreement “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,” the company added.

OpenAI and the Pentagon formed their partnership late last month after a breakdown in negotiations between the White House and rival AI company Anthropic.

Anthropic had wanted the Pentagon to agree that its technology wouldn’t be used for mass surveillance of Americans or for fully autonomous weapons. President Donald Trump responded by ordering government departments to cease their work with Anthropic. 

The Pentagon also labeled the startup a supply-chain risk, meaning any companies wanting to do business with the U.S. government would be forbidden from also working with Anthropic. 

For its part, Anthropic has said it will challenge the supply-chain risk designation in court, while its CEO continues to negotiate with the Pentagon.

As PYMNTS reported, the Pentagon’s naming of Anthropic as a potential supply-chain risk spotlights the way that AI models “are increasingly treated as critical infrastructure within technology supply chains, creating new vendor-dependency and governance challenges for organizations deploying advanced AI systems.”

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote last week about the competition between OpenAI and Anthropic for consumer and business customers, noting that professionals are weaving AI tools into their daily workflows, essentially “piloting enterprise use cases” from the ground up.

“That dynamic gives OpenAI a distribution advantage, with ChatGPT’s 910 million weekly active users far outpacing competitors,” the report said. “But Anthropic’s rapid growth in signups suggests that differentiation around coding agents, enterprise automation and ad-free positioning may resonate with certain segments.”