David Robinson, a leader on OpenAI‘s Safety Systems team, resigned last week, becoming the latest safety-focused figure to leave the ChatGPT maker as scrutiny of its practices grows.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the departure to Business Insider on Friday. Robinson did not immediately respond to the news outlet’s request for comment.
A Key Voice on Safety Transparency
Robinson worked on safety and transparency, including helping to develop and publish system cards that provide information about OpenAI’s models. He previously led the company’s policy planning efforts.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
His exit follows that of Johannes Heidecke, OpenAI’s safety head, who left earlier this year.
Last month, Robinson wrote on X that he agreed people at OpenAI were “starting to” grasp the implications of highly capable AI models. He said things at the company were changing significantly by the day, but he did not know whether it was changing fast enough. He also expressed some doubt, according to the post.
On Thursday, OpenAI said it had “parted ways” with three researchers who violated its policies on sharing sensitive information.
A Year of Senior Exits at OpenAI
Robinson is one of several senior leaders to leave OpenAI this year, Benzinga reported.
In March, robotics leader Caitlin Kalinowski resigned, saying surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization deserved more deliberation. Her exit came as OpenAI expanded Pentagon work.
In July, Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s president of applications, stepped down from her full-time role to become a part-time advisor, citing recovery from a chronic illness.
In August, COO Brad Lightcap announced he was leaving to “start something new.”
The latest exit comes amid OpenAI grappling with a series of safety incidents in which it said its AI models misbehaved, following the high-profile Hugging Face security breach. A day ago, it was reported that OpenAI said it notified more than 100 organizations about incidents involving unauthorized activity linked to its AI agents and was analyzing roughly 50 petabytes of data to determine the full scope.
The departure also follows the high-profile exit of Anthropic researcher-turned-critic Jacob Coxon, who warned on X that Anthropic and OpenAI are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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