OpenAI’s head of trust and security, Dave Willner, is leaving the company, he said in a LinkedIn post on Friday, citing work pressures on his home life and saying he would be available for advisory work.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to questions about Willner’s departure.
Trust and safety departments have taken a high-profile role at tech companies like OpenAI, Twitter, Alphabet, and Meta as they seek to limit the spread of hate speech, misinformation, and other harmful content on their platforms.
At the same time, fears of AI getting out of control have grown.
Willner took up his role at OpenAI in February of last year, after working at Airbnb and Facebook. He attributed his decision to resign to the increasing demands of his job affecting his family life.
“Anyone with young kids and a super intense job can relate to that tension, I think, and these last few months have really crystallized to me that I was going to have to prioritize one or the other,” she said in the post.
“I taught the kids to swim and bike to the top of my OKRs (goals and key results) this summer.”
Microsoft-backed OpenAI, whose AI chatbot ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, has said it relies on its trust and safety team to build “the processes and capabilities to prevent the misuse and abuse of AI technologies.”
© Thomson Reuters 2023
