A former OpenAI employee David Robinson, who helped prepare safety reports for the artificial intelligence company’s major product launches, has resigned, citing what he described as a breakdown in the company’s culture.

Robinson disclosed his resignation in an essay published by The Atlantic, saying he had spent three-and-a-half years at OpenAI and was “among the longest-tenured employees at the company.”

He said his decision to leave was driven by concerns that the company’s culture had deteriorated, arguing that addressing AI safety would require more than introducing specific rules or new legislation.

Robinson’s departure adds to growing concerns among former AI researchers and employees over how leading technology companies are managing the risks associated with increasingly powerful AI systems.

His comments echo those of Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at OpenAI and Anthropic, who previously criticised the companies for what he described as “gambling with our lives” through their approach to AI development.

Coxon’s remarks intensified debate over AI safety and were followed by moves from industry executives to address concerns about the development and deployment of advanced AI systems.

Anthropic Chief Executive Officer, Dario Amodei, subsequently outlined plans for a more cautious approach to AI development, while several AI executives also met with US President Donald Trump and signed a non-binding pledge to strengthen safety controls.

However, Robinson argued that the industry’s challenges extend beyond individual safety measures or regulatory requirements.

He said the culture within AI companies must also change, suggesting that the pressure to develop and commercialise increasingly powerful systems could undermine efforts to prioritise safety.

“OpenAI has thrived by trial and error (which it calls ‘iterative deployment’), looking for problems and improving its guardrails in response,” he wrote. “But this approach, by its very nature, guarantees periodic failures — and the scale of those failures is growing as systems get more capable.”

His assessment also broadens the criticism beyond OpenAI’s internal leadership, where much of the scrutiny has centred on Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and the trust he has maintained among former colleagues.