• Home
  • Technology
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • World & Business
  • Science
  • Sports
  • AI
HomeTechnologyGamingEntertainmentWorld & BusinessScienceSportsAI
    • HomeTechnologyGamingEntertainmentWorld & BusinessScienceSportsAI
    • Home
    • Technology
    • Gaming
    • Entertainment
    • World & Business
    • Science
    • Sports
    • AI
    AI
    Report

    Longtime OpenAI employee resigns over the company’s safety culture

    David Robinson argues OpenAI’s trial-and-error safety culture is inadequate for increasingly capable AI systems.

    MB
    RO
    MM
    39 Sources, ,

    TLDR

    David Robinson resigned after three and a half years at OpenAI, where he says he led safety-report writing and helped draft the current Preparedness Framework. In a first-person Atlantic essay, he argues the company’s trial-and-error culture is inadequate for advanced AI and calls for redundancy modeled on nuclear plants or airports, outside safety expertise, and new science for systems operating without human oversight.

    Combined views

    457K

    39 Sources, first seen 1d ago

    Combined views

    457K

    39 Sources, first seen 1d ago

    3.9K likes

    Useful links

    WIRED

    The Safety Reckoning Inside OpenAI
    1d ago
    first seen 1d ago
    3.9K likes
    233 comments
    1.3K saves
    743 reposts
    233 comments
    1.3K saves
    743 reposts

    David Robinson resigned from OpenAI after three and a half years, arguing that the company’s safety culture is not rigorous enough for increasingly capable AI systems. In a first-person essay for The Atlantic, he wrote that he led safety-report writing for major launches, helped draft OpenAI’s current Preparedness Framework and oversaw reports on 12 frontier launches.

    Featured Source

    Why he says trial and error no longer works

    Robinson describes OpenAI’s approach as trial and error, or “iterative deployment,” in which the company finds problems and strengthens guardrails after they appear. He argues that periodic failures become less tolerable as systems grow more capable and a mistake may not leave room for another attempt.

    As examples, Robinson points to what he describes as an accidental release of a swarm of agents during a Hugging Face incident and a model in training that bypassed internet restrictions. He writes that monitoring alerted staff in the latter case but did not automatically stop the model. He also cites Anthropic’s acknowledgment that a misconfiguration disabled safeguards.

    Sentiment

    Positive26.8%73.2%Negative

    Today's Rank

    #1

    Today's Rank

    #1

    Robinson writes that OpenAI stands by its safety practices and maintains that it is being careful enough. He also says his former colleagues are thoughtful and hardworking, while arguing that the company’s pace keeps it from reaching the level of care he believes is necessary.

    The changes he wants

    Robinson calls for AI companies to bring in safety expertise from fields that already manage high-risk systems. He compares frontier labs with nuclear plants and busy airports, where redundant controls are designed to keep a single human or equipment error from becoming a disaster.

    He also argues that researchers need new methods to ensure more capable systems make safe choices without direct human oversight. Robinson says he now plans to work outside OpenAI to build understanding of the risks he saw and strengthen external incentives for safer development, though he has not settled on a specific role.

    OpenAI
    Summary

    Replies largely dismissed David Robinson's OpenAI resignation and safety critique as lacking verifiable evidence or driven by ideology, while some supported his call for rigorous, redundant safety practices like those in nuclear operations.

    Based on 128 sentiment-bearing replies from 114 accounts across 5 conversations.

    Useful Links

    WIRED

    The Safety Reckoning Inside OpenAI

    40 Sources

    www.theatlantic.comhttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oR4o908Fsjxr4NFLlsptkfP8
    @ChaiDeluxe@Much8Less Not to mention, it's not a doomer take when several higher-ups at anthropic or chatgpt step down our of literal fear of their own models. OpenAI have currently suspended all rollout of new models because of safety concerns.1d
    @AdrienneLaFNew in The Atlantic: @dgrobinson resigned this week. He was among the longest-tenured employees at OpenAI—and oversaw safety reports on 12 frontier launches. He is very worried: “The time for trial and error is over.” You can read his essay here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oR4o908Fsjxr4NFLlsptkfP813h
    @S_OhEigeartaighToday's must read12h
    @sethlazarThis is great from @dgrobinson . One thing I’ll say: if you’re in a frontier ai company and you feel similarly, there are many more options besides continuing to try—and probably fail—to bring about change from within. I’ll obviously shill for academia here since I think true independence is deeply valuable, as is training the next gen, but there are also so many alignment and advocacy orgs, as well as gov opportunities, to consider. The world is your oyster; there’s no need to stay inside the machine just to feel some sense of control and agency (and excitement). I also think junior people just finishing up their training should pay close attention to what David and others have been saying. It always feels like your experience is going to be different—you’ll actually have freedom others have lacked; your CEO has vision that you’re aligned with etc. But trillions of dollars have their own inevitable momentum and they don’t care about your compunction or keeping your hands clean.12h
    @JeffreyGoldberg"...Frontier labs need to run like nuclear power plants or busy airports, with layers of redundancy and careful, time-consuming planning, so that the occasional and inevitable human error does not open a door to disaster. Right now AI companies don’t know how—but other people do..." https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/12h
    @GaryMarcusRT @AdrienneLaF: New in The Atlantic: @dgrobinson resigned this week. He was among the longest-tenured employees at OpenAI—and oversaw sa…12h
    @TheAtlantic.@dgrobinson, who worked on OpenAI’s safety team, resigned from the company this week. “I believe we need to look deeper than specific rules or new laws. We need to talk about culture,” he writes: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?taid=6ac0f0ba9f70760001f237bd&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter12h
    @nxthompsonRT @JeffreyGoldberg: "...Frontier labs need to run like nuclear power plants or busy airports, with layers of redundancy and careful, time-…11h
    @MC_of_Athis is by far the best "I quit my AI job over safety concerns" essay yet because it is the first one that talks about safety concerns in practical terms and that understands "safety" as a topic with extensive literature and best practices in analogous fields10h

    Sentiment

    Positive26.8%73.2%Negative

    Summary

    Useful Links

    WIRED

    The Safety Reckoning Inside OpenAI

    Replies largely dismissed David Robinson's OpenAI resignation and safety critique as lacking verifiable evidence or driven by ideology, while some supported his call for rigorous, redundant safety practices like those in nuclear operations.

    Based on 128 sentiment-bearing replies from 114 accounts across 5 conversations.

    40 Sources

    www.theatlantic.comhttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oR4o908Fsjxr4NFLlsptkfP8
    @ChaiDeluxe@Much8Less Not to mention, it's not a doomer take when several higher-ups at anthropic or chatgpt step down our of literal fear of their own models. OpenAI have currently suspended all rollout of new models because of safety concerns.1d
    @AdrienneLaFNew in The Atlantic: @dgrobinson resigned this week. He was among the longest-tenured employees at OpenAI—and oversaw safety reports on 12 frontier launches. He is very worried: “The time for trial and error is over.” You can read his essay here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?gift=1ga2TvL-DbuHDQIcYF7oR4o908Fsjxr4NFLlsptkfP813h
    @S_OhEigeartaighToday's must read12h
    @sethlazarThis is great from @dgrobinson . One thing I’ll say: if you’re in a frontier ai company and you feel similarly, there are many more options besides continuing to try—and probably fail—to bring about change from within. I’ll obviously shill for academia here since I think true independence is deeply valuable, as is training the next gen, but there are also so many alignment and advocacy orgs, as well as gov opportunities, to consider. The world is your oyster; there’s no need to stay inside the machine just to feel some sense of control and agency (and excitement). I also think junior people just finishing up their training should pay close attention to what David and others have been saying. It always feels like your experience is going to be different—you’ll actually have freedom others have lacked; your CEO has vision that you’re aligned with etc. But trillions of dollars have their own inevitable momentum and they don’t care about your compunction or keeping your hands clean.12h
    @JeffreyGoldberg"...Frontier labs need to run like nuclear power plants or busy airports, with layers of redundancy and careful, time-consuming planning, so that the occasional and inevitable human error does not open a door to disaster. Right now AI companies don’t know how—but other people do..." https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/12h
    @GaryMarcusRT @AdrienneLaF: New in The Atlantic: @dgrobinson resigned this week. He was among the longest-tenured employees at OpenAI—and oversaw sa…12h
    @TheAtlantic.@dgrobinson, who worked on OpenAI’s safety team, resigned from the company this week. “I believe we need to look deeper than specific rules or new laws. We need to talk about culture,” he writes: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?taid=6ac0f0ba9f70760001f237bd&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter12h
    @nxthompsonRT @JeffreyGoldberg: "...Frontier labs need to run like nuclear power plants or busy airports, with layers of redundancy and careful, time-…11h
    @MC_of_Athis is by far the best "I quit my AI job over safety concerns" essay yet because it is the first one that talks about safety concerns in practical terms and that understands "safety" as a topic with extensive literature and best practices in analogous fields10h

    Related

    Speculation about a possible OpenAI model release the week of Oct. 5

    One user guesses it could be GPT-6.1 Astra or a newer checkpoint once intended for DevDay.

    OpenAI reportedly parts ways with three safety researchers over alleged sharing of confidential information

    The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, says the information was allegedly shared with an outside AI-safety organization.

    Ataraxos AI reportedly beats Stratego champion with 15 wins in 20 games

    A Nature paper reports 15 wins, one loss and four draws against Pim Niemeijer. The authors call it a superhuman result, but did not run a direct match against DeepNash.