ChainThink reports that, on October 9, CNBC stated that OpenAI and Anthropic are hiring former officials from the Trump administration for senior roles to strengthen ties with the U.S. government.
As cutting-edge AI technologies are increasingly viewed as a national security issue, the two companies are expanding their political affairs initiatives to address policy impacts related to regulation, federal procurement, supply chain risk assessment, and export controls.
Anthropic hired at least two former Trump administration officials this year: former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Liddell joined the board in February;
Sihao Huang, formerly a senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, joined the company in September to lead advanced computing strategy.
Recently, OpenAI hired Thomas Lind, Dean Ball, and Peter Bowman-Davis, who previously led White House AI policy, contributed to drafting the Trump administration’s U.S. AI Initiative, and served as Chief AI Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, respectively.
Anthropic previously had a public conflict with the U.S. Department of Defense, and its supply chain risk determination was upheld by a U.S. appellate court in September.
Subsequently, CEO Dario Amodei sought to ease tensions between the two sides by meeting with Trump and other executives from AI companies. Both companies are currently hiring for political affairs roles to expand their influence in the U.S. AI policy-making process.