AI Talent War Heats Up as OpenAI Staff Quits and Joins Anthropic

Competition for tech talent is heating up in the AI industry. 

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, at least two senior employees have resigned from OpenAI after the company announced it had reached a deal with the United States Department of War to deploy its AI models in classified government settings. 

In a post on X, Caitlin Kalinowski, who leads robotics and consumer hardware initiatives at OpenAI, said she was stepping down because of the agreement. 

“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. “This was about principle, not people.” 

Max Schwarzer, OpenAI’s vice president of research, announced his departure a few days earlier on X, saying he would be joining rival AI lab, Anthropic. 

“Many of the people I most trust and respect have joined Anthropic over the last couple of years, and I’m excited to work with them again,” Schwarzer wrote, adding that he had been “very impressed with Anthropic’s talent, research taste and values.”