On Mar. 3, OpenAI Vice President of Research Max Schwarzer announced in a post on X that he is stepping down from the company and will join rival Anthropic. Schwarzer said he plans to return to technical research after leading the company’s post-training efforts over the past year. His departure comes as OpenAI faces growing scrutiny over its recent Pentagon AI agreement.
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Schwarzer has been a key figure at OpenAI, leading the post-training team responsible for developing major AI models, including GPT-5, 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3-Codex. His work helped advance OpenAI’s research capabilities and strengthen its position in the AI field.
After reflecting on his career path, he decided to return to individual contributor research and will join Anthropic, known for its Claude chatbot. Schwarzer expressed confidence that OpenAI’s post-training team is well-positioned to continue its work.
His departure comes as OpenAI faces growing scrutiny over its government collaborations, including a controversial Pentagon AI deal. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that the company acted ‘opportunistically’ in announcing the agreement shortly after Anthropic declined similar terms.
Pentagon Agreement Clarifications
OpenAI confirmed its systems will not be used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons, and the Pentagon clarified its AI services will not be deployed by intelligence agencies such as the NSA. Anthropic declined similar terms for its technology. Following these developments, ChatGPT uninstalls surged 295%, while Anthropic’s Claude topped the free apps chart on Apple’s (APPL) App Store.
OpenAI is exploring a contract to deploy its AI technology on NATO’s unclassified networks. This clarification came after Altman initially misspoke about deploying on classified systems. The company, backed by Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and other investors, emphasized that the opportunity is limited to non-classified operations.
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