Crazy s**t is happening in the tech world…
What could be a bigger red flag than the robotic engineering chief of an AI company quitting? Not to live a slower life, but because they refuse to stand by the deals the company is making… deals in terms of surveillance and next-gen weaponry in partnership with the government? Well, not much. And that’s scarily just happened. Enter: Terminator.
On February 27, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (pictured above, inset), shared on X (Twitter) that the company “reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.”
Why would this be concerning? Well, before their deal, the Pentagon reportedly wanted to reach one with another AI company called Anthropic. Anthropic was hesitant, though, reportedly because they couldn’t be guaranteed their AI models wouldn’t be used for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Anthropic didn’t bow to pressure, and because of that they’ve reportedly, basically been blacklisted. So now they’re suing, claiming:
“The federal government retaliated against a leading frontier AI developer for adhering to its protected viewpoint on a subject of great public significance — AI safety and the limitations of its own AI model — in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
Pretty wild, right?
So back to Sam Altman and Open AI. After stepping in and making a deal, Altman ensured “safety” and the “best possible outcome[s]” were of the utmost importance, and specifically touched on two areas of concern: surveillance and autonomous weaponry:
“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems.”
He claimed the DoW “agrees with these principles” and promised the company will “build technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should.” You can read his full statement (below):
Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.
In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.
AI safety and wide distribution of…
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 28, 2026
Soooo, AI being used in military operations? Kind of eerie, but this is 2026, right? As long as it’s not being used to spy on Americans en masse or to create killer robots, like Altman claimed it wouldn’t, it should be safe, right? Well, maybe the deal wasn’t as airtight as the CEO claimed it was?
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Over the weekend, Caitlin Kalinowski, the hardware and robotic engineering team leader at OpenAI, declared on X (Twitter) that she was resigning after Altman struck the deal. In her words, it sure seems like she’s concerned that what Altman promised the tech would NOT be used for is still on the table! She claimed:
“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.”
Oh s**t! Read her full announcement (below):
I resigned from OpenAI. I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn’t an easy call. AI has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are…
— Caitlin Kalinowski (@kalinowski007) March 7, 2026
She added in a subsequent post:
“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.”
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.
— Caitlin Kalinowski (@kalinowski007) March 7, 2026
Yes, now is a good time to scream into the void.
However, Americans aren’t ready to just roll over and let AI spies and robot executioners become the norm. In direct response to the new deal, ChatGPT, an OpenAI system, suffered a MASSIVE blow. According to Tech Crunch, the mobile app faced a 295% jump in uninstalls the day after the Department of War deal was announced. To date, more than 1.5 MILLION users have boycotted the service! People don’t want a killer robot app on their devices!
In response to Kalinowski’s resignation, OpenAI issued the following statement to Tech Crunch:
“We believe our agreement with the Pentagon creates a workable path for responsible national security uses of AI while making clear our red lines: no domestic surveillance and no autonomous weapons. We recognize that people have strong views about these issues and we will continue to engage in discussion with employees, government, civil society and communities around the world.”
What about Altman? Well, in response to the mass exodus of ChatGPT, the tech CEO admitted in an X (Twitter) post that the DoW deal was “rushed” and appeared “opportunistic and sloppy.” He claimed the deal was being amended so that ChatGPT-powered systems “shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals.” He also claimed the service “will not be used by Department of War intelligence agencies.”
Read his full post (below):
Here is re-post of an internal post:
We have been working with the DoW to make some additions in our agreement to make our principles very clear.
1. We are going to amend our deal to add this language, in addition to everything else:
“• Consistent with applicable laws,…
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 3, 2026
It sounds like he’s on the right track, but he shared that update on March 2 and Kalinowski announced her resignation on March 7… meaning even AFTER the amendment, she still could not sign off. Hmm… curiouser and curiouser!
Are we entering I, Robot territory? Let us know your thoughts on this tech update in the comments down below.
[Images via MEGA/WENN]
