Who is David Robinson? Safety Systems team lead at OpenAI, joining the list of execs who left the AI firm this year

Artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI is going through a troubled time. As the debate around the implications of the rapidly evolving technology gains momentum, David Robinson, OpenAI's Safety Systems team leader, has stepped down from his position, making him yet another name on the already high-profile list of officials who have left the company this year.

Citing a company spokesperson, Business Insider reported the development on Friday (local time), adding that Robinson left last week, marking an upheaval in the company's safety team. Robinson, who worked on safety transparency at the firm, including helping to develop and share system cards that give information regarding its models, had previously led OpenAI's policy planning.

While the exact reason for Robinson's departure remains unclear, he said in a social media post last month that people at OpenAI were beginning to recognise the implications of highly capable AI models, while also expressing some doubts. He added that things at OpenAI "are indeed changing significantly by the day, but I do not know whether we are changing fast enough."

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Here's what we know about David Robinson

According to his LinkedIn profile, Robinson's educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Princeton University, a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Oxford, which he attended from 2004 to 2006, and a Juris Doctor (JD) from Yale Law School, which he completed from 2009 to 2012.

Before joining OpenAI, Robinson had a diverse career spanning several roles. According to his profile, he started as an intern at TIME Magazine, where he worked for three months between June and August in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, he worked as an intern at The Wall Street Journal and later at The Wall Street Journal Asia. In 2006, Robinson became the managing editor at The American. Between September 2007 and September 2009, he worked as an associate director at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University.

In 2011, he served as a summer associate at Covington & Burling, following which, in 2012, he became a visiting fellow at Yale Law School for five years. Between 2017 and 2020, Robinson was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. From 2011 to 2020, he also served as managing director and co-founder of Upturn. Between 2018 and 2021, he was a visiting scientist at Cornell University. In 2022, he worked as a consultant at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He has also been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. Between 2022 and 2023, he was a faculty director at Apple University. Robinson joined OpenAI in 2023 as its head of policy planning and was promoted to lead its Safety Systems team in 2024.

OpenAI execs who left this year

Robinson's departure adds to a growing list of senior OpenAI executives and officials who have left the company this year. Some of the most prominent names include:

Denise Dresser — Chief Revenue Officer

Brad Lightcap — Chief Operating Officer

Kevin Weil — Vice President of OpenAI for Science

Bill Peebles — Research Scientist

Srinivas Narayanan — Chief Technology Officer for Business Applications

Kate Rouch — Chief Marketing Officer

Chloé Bakalar — Head of Ethics

Johannes Heidecke — Head of Safety Systems

Joshua Achiam — Chief Futurist

Caitlin Kalinowski — Head of Robotics and Consumer Hardware Team