OpenAI Employee Quits Due To "Scary" And "Dangerous" Mental Health Toll: "I Hope I Will Heal"

Hieu Pham, an OpenAI employee who previously worked at xAI, has quit, citing the mental health toll of his work. According to his LinkedIn profile, Pham worked at OpenAI for over seven months as a member of technical staff. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he has described the experience as "a once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, but also expressed his struggles. "I have made the difficult decision to leave @OpenAI," Pham wrote. 

"Working here and at @xai before was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I have met the best people. Not the best people in AI. Not the best people in tech. Simply the best people. At these companies, I have helped creating extremely intelligent entities that will meaningfully improve our lives." 

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"I hope I will heal"

Pham further wrote that he is "proud" of the work he has done, but the intense work pressure has impacted his well-being, saying, "I am burnt out. All the mental health deteriorating that I used to scoff at is real, miserable, scary, and dangerous."

He said that he is taking a break from Frontier AI labs to focus on his mental health and spend time with his family in Vietnam. "There, I will try something new, and also search for a cure for my conditions. I hope I will heal. Until then," he concluded the post.

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I have made the difficult decision to leave @OpenAI.

Working here and at @xai before was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I have met the best people. Not the best people in AI. Not the best people in tech. Simply the best people.

At these companies, I have helped creating…

— Hieu Pham (@hyhieu226) February 26, 2026

In the comment section, a techie wrote, "This is the other side of AI development no one talks about. There is a heavy paradox in building systems to improve human lives while sacrificing your own life to do it. It's a brave decision to break that cycle. Burnout is not a badge of honor, and healing is not a sign of weakness. Touch some grass and enjoy the time home with your family."

Not so long ago, Pham opened up about feeling an "existential threat" from AI. He had written on X that the disruptive impact of AI on jobs, society and human relevance is a matter of "when, not if. "Today, I finally feel the existential threat that AI is posing," Pham wrote. "When AI becomes overly good and disrupts everything, what will be left for humans to do? And it's when, not if."

Pham's departure comes amid concerns about the mental health of AI researchers and the pressure to innovate in the field. At various occasions, OpenAI has faced criticism for its safety culture and handling of employee departures. Recently, Zoe Hitzig, a researcher at OpenAI, had resigned, expressing "deep reservations" about the company's strategy.

Some other AI-related firms are also facing similar criticism. Among them is Anthropic, whose head of the Safeguards Research Team, Mrinank Sharma, recently resigned, saying that the "world is in peril", not just from AI or bioweapons, but from a "whole series of interconnected crises unfolding" currently.