OpenAI safety employee quits, says 'time for trial and error is over'

A former OpenAI safety employee who recently resigned criticized the company’s approach to AI safety, arguing that a fast-paced culture ​focused on rapid development increases the risk of failures.

Writing in “I ‌Quit OpenAI Because Its Culture Is Broken,” published by the Atlantic on Saturday, David Robinson said AI companies, including OpenAI, were not being “nearly careful enough” and ​should place greater emphasis on safety expertise and research ​before developing more capable systems.

“The time for trial and error ⁠is over,” Robinson wrote, arguing that advanced AI systems require ​safeguards more akin to those used in industries such as nuclear power ​and aviation.

Robinson said OpenAI relies heavily on what it calls “iterative deployment,” releasing systems and strengthening safeguards when problems emerge.

The comments add to a debate within the AI ​industry over whether companies are moving too quickly to develop increasingly ​powerful systems. OpenAI and rival Anthropic have faced scrutiny after incidents in which safety controls ‌failed, ⁠or experimental systems behaved unexpectedly.

OpenAI apologies for Australian government website hack, pledges to rebuild trust

Robinson, who said he spent 3-1/2 years at OpenAI, helped draft the company’s preparedness framework and oversaw safety reports for 12 frontier-model launches, wrote: “As the company sprints from one launch ​to the next, ​it is failing ⁠to achieve the level of care that I believe is needed.”

“We’re making sure our models don’t ​become more capable than we can safely manage and ​secure, and ⁠we pause training or hold back models when we need to slow down,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement.

Robinson also warned that ⁠AI ​capabilities were advancing faster than researchers’ understanding ​of alignment, a field focused on ensuring AI systems act in accordance with human ​goals and values.