OpenAI Defends Pentagon Deal After Top Exec Quits Over Mass Surveillance Concerns

OpenAI is defending its deal with the Department of War, despite criticism from an executive who announced her resignation via X over the agreement.

The company announced that it had reached an agreement with the Department of War February 28. That agreement allows the military to use OpenAI tools “for all lawful purposes.”

Sarah Friar, OpenAI CFO, told Fox Business Live that the agreement has important guardrails in place and that it was “vital the U.S. stay on the frontier” of the emerging technology.

Friar said that the agreement does not allow for OpenAI tools to be used for domestic surveillance or for autonomous weapons. Friar described these issues as red lines for the company. However, she also said that it was essential that democratically elected governments keep pace with other countries – such as China – when it comes to AI.

“We believe strongly in the Democratic process. And to that end, we believe strongly that you need to work alongside Democratically elected governments,” Friar told Fox.

This reason also was cited by the company in its initial announcement: “First, we think the US military absolutely needs strong AI models to support their mission especially in the face of growing threats from potential adversaries who are increasingly integrating AI technologies into their systems.”

However, this weekend, Caitlin Kalinowski resigned as robotics hardware lead for OpenAI, citing the company’s agreement with the Department of War.

“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,” she wrote on X.

She added that, “To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined. It’s a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed.”

Although the company stated that no domestic surveillance would be allowed in its February 28 announcement, it put out a second, updated statement March 2 which included additional language on the issue.

However, Friar said the company has taken the concerns seriously. According to Friar, OpenAI employees will be embedded within the government to ensure tools are deployed appropriately.