# Caitlin Kalinowski

**Role:** Senior hardware executive, OpenAI robotics and hardware operations lead (November 2024 - March 2026)

**Significance:** First senior frontier AI lab employee to publicly resign over military AI governance concerns

## Timeline

- **2024-11** — Joined OpenAI to lead robotics and hardware operations team
- **2026-03-07** — Resigned from OpenAI citing governance failures in Pentagon deal approval process

## Resignation Context

Kalinowski resigned "on principle" following OpenAI's February 2026 Pentagon deal announcement. Her public statement framed the resignation as a governance failure rather than purely an ethics objection:

> "surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got"

> "It's a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed."

## Significance for AI Governance

Kalinowski's resignation is notable for three reasons:

1. **Seniority:** Most senior OpenAI employee to publicly break with the company over the Pentagon deal
2. **Domain relevance:** Led robotics operations — the exact intersection of AI capability and lethal autonomy concerns
3. **Framing:** Explicitly governance-first rather than values-first critique, focusing on process failure (rushed decision-making) rather than outcome objection alone

Despite the resignation and broader staff dissent (CNN reported multiple employees "fuming" March 4, 2026), OpenAI proceeded with the Pentagon deal. Contract amendments addressed PR concerns but not the structural loopholes Kalinowski cited.

## Sources

- NPR: "OpenAI robotics leader resigns over concerns about Pentagon AI deal" (March 8, 2026)
- TechCrunch: "OpenAI hardware exec Caitlin Kalinowski quits in response to Pentagon deal" (March 7, 2026)
- Fortune: "OpenAI robotics leader resigns over concerns about surveillance and autonomous weapons amid Pentagon contract" (March 7, 2026)
- Bloomberg: "OpenAI Robotics Chief Resigns Over Pentagon AI Deal Citing Ethical Concerns" (March 7, 2026)