OpenAI's robotics hardware lead Caitlin Kalinowski has resigned following the company's controversial partnership with the Department of Defense. Kalinowski, who joined OpenAI in late 2024 after working at Meta, criticized the company's decision to rush into the agreement without establishing proper guardrails. She specifically objected to the lack of deliberation around surveillance and autonomous weapons capabilities.

In her resignation announcement on X, Kalinowski stated that "surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got." She described the announcement as rushed without defined guardrails, calling it primarily a "governance concern." Her departure marks the most high-profile fallout from OpenAI's defense partnership decision.

OpenAI confirmed Kalinowski's resignation and stated it understands people have "strong views" about these issues. The company emphasized it doesn't support domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons, claiming its agreement with the Pentagon creates a "workable path for responsible national security uses of AI." CEO Sam Altman has since announced plans to amend the deal to prohibit spying on Americans, following similar concerns raised by competitors like Anthropic.