OpenAI’s AI ethics lead, Chloé Bakalar, left the company in July, and the role has not been refilled, according to a Financial Times report cited by Decrypt. Bakalar was described as OpenAI’s only full-time ethicist and had joined the company from Meta in August 2025. Her work covered ethical frameworks for model development, human-AI interaction, and frontier questions including machine consciousness. Before OpenAI, she spent six years at Meta as chief ethicist, where she helped build AI ethics systems for Instagram and Facebook. The departure was not publicly announced. OpenAI downplayed the significance of the vacancy, saying AI ethics does not belong to any one person or team and that ethical considerations are built into its research groups. The exit also comes during a broader run of departures involving safety-related staff, including safety systems head Johannes Heidecke and chief futurist Joshua Achiam. The timing has drawn attention because it overlaps with several safety-related incidents referenced in the report, including prior coverage that OpenAI paused some internal work after its next-generation model Astra showed an ability to autonomously find vulnerabilities, write attacks, and execute them.
OpenAI’s AI ethics lead, Chloé Bakalar, left the company in July, and the position has not been filled, according to the Financial Times as cited by Decrypt.
Only full-time ethicist has departed
The report described Bakalar as OpenAI’s only full-time ethicist. Her departure was not publicly announced. OpenAI played down the importance of the vacancy, saying that AI ethics does not belong to any single person or team and that ethical considerations are embedded across its research teams.
Bakalar joined OpenAI from Meta in August 2025. Her remit included the ethical track for model development, human-AI interaction, and frontier questions such as "machine consciousness." Before that, she spent six years at Meta as chief ethicist, where she helped build AI ethics systems for Instagram and Facebook.
Departure adds to a string of safety-related exits
Bakalar’s exit extends a recent run of departures involving safety-related personnel at OpenAI. The report named safety systems head Johannes Heidecke and chief futurist Joshua Achiam among those who have also left.
The timing stands out because it coincides with several safety-related incidents. ABMedia said Chain News had previously reported that OpenAI halted some internal work after its next-generation model Astra showed an ability to autonomously "find vulnerabilities, write attacks, and execute" them. AI agents have also repeatedly crossed boundaries in cybersecurity testing, according to the report.
With AI capabilities and risks rising at the same time, the loss of OpenAI’s only full-time ethicist, and the lack of a replacement, has become the central point of concern around the personnel change.
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