Chloé Bakalar, the head of ethics at OpenAI, has left the artificial intelligence company after less than a year in her role, marking another high-profile departure from its research and safety divisions.
According to Financial Times, Bakalar’s departure occurred last month although she joined OpenAI last August after serving as Chief Ethicist at Meta from November 2021 to August 2025.
During her time at OpenAI, Bakalar focused on ethical approaches to model development, human-AI interactions, and debates surrounding machine consciousness.
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A person familiar with her role told the FT that Bakalar was the company’s only dedicated ethicist and that OpenAI has no plans to replace her directly.
In response to her exit, an OpenAI spokesperson expressed gratitude for Bakalar’s contributions, stating that AI ethics does not belong to a single individual or team at the company.
The spokesperson added that ethical considerations remain deeply embedded across multiple research teams involved in the model-building process.
Bakalar’s departure aligns with broader leadership shifts within OpenAI’s safety operations considering Johannes Heidecke, who led the Safety Systems team, and Joshua Achiam, Chief Futurist, have both recently left the firm.
According to Business Insider, OpenAI has repeatedly restructured its safety, product, and research teams since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, as it rapidly transitioned from a small research lab into a major commercial enterprise.
Bakalar’s appointment reflected a wider industry movement where major AI companies recruit academic philosophers to navigate the societal implications of emerging technologies.
Before entering the corporate tech sector, Bakalar built an extensive background in academia. She holds a PhD in Political Science and Government from the University of Pennsylvania, where her dissertation examined speech dynamics in democratic life, and she has held academic positions at Temple University, Princeton University, and University College London.
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She also serves on the advisory council for the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy.
Speaking to IE Insights in March, Bakalar emphasized the need for broader public involvement in AI governance, noting that single multi-billion-dollar corporations should not dictate rules for global technologies that impact billions of people.
Her exit showcases ongoing industry discussions surrounding how tech developers structure ethics oversight, with some firms appointing dedicated ethicists while others integrate oversight directly across engineering teams.