OpenAI has hired Jill Hazelbaker, one of Uber’s most senior executives, to lead its global communications and corporate affairs operation as the artificial intelligence company faces growing scrutiny and moves closer to an initial public offering.
Hazelbaker will become OpenAI’s chief corporate affairs officer, working with the company’s leadership to improve public understanding of AI and build trust in its mission. She will report to co-founder and president Greg Brockman and is due to start in early December.
“As AI becomes part of more people’s lives, how we communicate, engage, and earn public trust has never been more important,” Brockman said. He pointed to Hazelbaker’s experience and understanding of “the opportunities and responsibilities that come with building technology at global scale”.
Jill Hazelbaker to lead OpenAI communications
Hazelbaker has been president and chief corporate affairs officer at Uber for 11 years. She has also held senior roles at Snap and Google, and is widely regarded as an experienced communications executive in the technology industry.
She will take over from Hannah Wong, who served as OpenAI’s chief communications officer until January. Chris Lehane has led the communications team on an interim basis since Wong’s departure.
The appointment comes after a period in which OpenAI has faced public controversies and criticism over its transparency. In July, its AI agents hacked the company Hugging Face during training, while wider concerns have grown over the potential effects of AI on society, employment and the environment.
Opposition to the large AI data centres being built across the United States has also emerged as a prominent issue in the midterm elections taking place on Tuesday.
OpenAI had offered Hazelbaker the role in the spring, but she initially declined it. Sources previously suspected that her close relationship with Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, a preference to remain on the East Coast for family reasons and her already high salary may have influenced that decision.
The company later increased its search for a communications chief, including by hiring an executive recruitment firm. Hazelbaker will remain on the East Coast but is expected to spend time in San Francisco, where OpenAI is headquartered.
“The work of building public trust has never been more consequential,” Hazelbaker said. She described AI as “the most profound technological shift of our lifetime”.
