Anthropic, OpenAI Hire 5 Former Trump Officials as AI Labs Deepen Washington Push
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Oct 9
Anthropic, OpenAI Hire 5 Former Trump Officials as AI Labs Deepen Washington Push
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 9
Summary
Anthropic and OpenAI have hired at least five former Trump administration officials this year for senior strategy, policy and special-projects roles as frontier AI firms tighten links to the White House.
The recruiting drive reflects growing pressure on AI labs to manage export controls, procurement access and other federal levers as Washington treats advanced AI increasingly as a national security issue.
Anthropic named former deputy White House chief of staff Chris Liddell to its board in February and brought in ex-OSTP adviser Sihao Huang in September to lead frontier compute strategy tied to infrastructure expansion.
OpenAI added at least three Trump-era officials, including former ONCD AI policy lead Thomas Lind, former OSTP adviser Dean Ball and former HHS chief AI officer Peter Bowman-Davis.
The hiring comes after Anthropic’s clashes with the Trump administration, including a September appeals-court ruling upholding a Pentagon supply-chain-risk designation, and as both companies prepare for heavier political scrutiny and possible blockbuster IPOs.