OpenAI has expanded its global affairs team by hiring Jessica Schumer, the daughter of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. She will lead policy and partnerships in the Northeast region. This appointment follows her roles as chief of staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under Obama and head of Amazon's public policy in New York.
The company also recruited Caulder Harvill-Childs, a former Meta public policy lead with experience in Republican state legislatures, to manage the Southeast. Additionally, Thomas MacLellan, a cybersecurity expert previously with Palo Alto Networks and Symantec, joined to focus on state-level cyber defense.
These hires are part of a strategy to increase influence at the state level while federal AI legislation remains stalled. OpenAI is targeting key states like California, New York, and Illinois, which are currently the most active in regulating AI safety, transparency, and cybersecurity.
The company has already impacted AI transparency laws in New York and California. OpenAI aims to shape state regulations that could eventually serve as de facto national standards for issues such as deepfake disclosure and algorithmic transparency.
