OpenAI safety employee quits, says ‘time for trial and error is over’
A former OpenAI safety employee has criticized the company’s approach to AI safety after resigning, arguing that a culture focused on rapid development could increase the risk of failures as AI systems become more capable.
David Robinson made the comments in an essay titled “I Quit OpenAI Because Its Culture Is Broken,” published by The Atlantic on Saturday. He said AI companies, including OpenAI, were not being “nearly careful enough” and should place greater emphasis on safety expertise and research before developing more advanced systems.
“The time for trial and error is over,” Robinson wrote, arguing that increasingly capable AI systems require safeguards more comparable to those used in high-risk industries such as nuclear power and aviation.
Robinson said OpenAI relies heavily on what it calls “iterative deployment,” in which systems are released, and safeguards are strengthened when problems emerge. He argued that this approach becomes increasingly risky as AI capabilities advance.
Robinson spent three and a half years at OpenAI and said he helped draft the company’s Preparedness Framework and oversaw safety reports for 12 frontier-model launches. He wrote that as OpenAI moves rapidly from one launch to another, it is failing to reach the level of care he believes is necessary.
OpenAI defended its safety practices in a statement, saying it is working to ensure its models do not become more capable than the company can safely manage and secure. The company also said it pauses training or holds back models when it determines that additional caution is necessary.
Robinson also warned that AI capabilities are advancing faster than researchers’ understanding of alignment, a field focused on ensuring AI systems behave in accordance with human goals and values.
