OpenAI's Only Ethicist Reportedly Left Last Month. She Wasn't Replaced

OpenAI's head ethicist, Chloé Bakalar, quietly departed in July after less than a year on the job, and the company has not replaced her, leaving it without a dedicated ethicist. The Financial Times reports that Bakalar, formerly Meta's chief ethicist, focused on ethical model development, human-AI interaction, and machine consciousness debates. Her exit follows other safety-related departures, including Head of Safety Systems Johannes Heidecke and safety specialist Joshua Achiam. OpenAI downplayed the significance, stating that AI ethics is embedded across multiple teams, not owned by one person.