OpenAI establishes a lobbying team to respond to AI-related regulations

As governments around the world accelerated the preparation of artificial intelligence (AI) related bills, OpenAI, a developer of ChatGPT, is building a lobbying team in charge of rental affairs.

According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 13th (local time), the number of employees in charge of rental business in OpenAI increased from three until early 2023 to 35. OpenAI aims to increase the number of employees to 50 by the end of 2024. The team in charge of the business is called the Global Affairs Team. The total number of people in OpenAI is 1,200. Among them, the Global Affairs Team is the most international department in OpenAI. It has permanent employees in Belgium, the U.K., Ireland, France, Singapore, India and Brazil.
Compared to rental teams of big IT companies such as Google and Facebook's parent company Meta, OpenAI's global business team is smaller. Meta spent 7.6 million dollars on rental businesses to the U.S. government in the first quarter of this year alone. Google spent 3.1 million dollars and OpenAI 340,000 dollars. On AI advocacy, Meta had 15 lobbyists. Google has appointed five and OpenAI only two.

"As soon as I entered the door, I discovered that ChatGPT has 100 million users while the company has only three people in charge of public policy," said David Robinson, a policy planning officer who joined OpenAI in May last year. "There are many people who want to talk to OpenAI, but no one can answer the phone at the company." This means that the global business team is small compared to ChatGPT's global influence. Robinson is in charge of AI policy consulting for the White House.

The Global Affairs Team does not address the regulations facing OpenAI itself. For example, the legal team deals with issues raised by US and UK regulators regarding Microsoft's $18 billion investment in OpenAI. Instead, the Global Affairs Team focuses on the AI bill itself.

OpenAI started to make efforts for the global business team when the European Union (EU) drafted the AI Act in March for the first time in the world. The core of the AI regulation law is to regulate AI differentially by dividing it into four grades according to its risk. The main point is that if AI is used within the established norms, humans can control its influence. If an AI-related company violates the regulations under the relevant law, it will have to pay a fine equivalent to up to 7 percent of its global sales. It will officially take effect in 27 EU member states from July, and will be introduced in phases after which it will be fully implemented in mid-2026.

OpenAI had discussions with the EU before the EU came up with the AI regulation law, but the intention of OpenAI was not reflected. Citing sources, the FT expressed its opinion that "OpenAI should not consider AI models that provide 'high risk' in the draft AI regulation law," but the EU refused to accept it and companies including OpenAI will be subject to the AI regulation law.

When the EU enacted AI regulation laws, OpenAI hired Chris Rehain, who worked for former U.S. President Bill Clinton's camp and served as Airbnb's policy chief, as vice president of public works. In addition, OpenAI also hired Sandro Gianella, who was in charge of European policy at Google, and James Hairston, who was in charge of international policy and partnership at Meta.

Anna Makanju, vice president of rental affairs at OpenAI, said, "We aim to make Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) benefit all mankind," adding, "We don't approach problem solving from the perspective of deregulation because the goal is not just to maximize the company's profits."

However, some are concerned about OpenAI's efforts to hire and rent lobbyists. "In the past, OpenAI recruited people and experts who were deeply involved in AI policy, but now it only employs ordinary technology lobbyists," a person who worked with OpenAI in legal affairs told the FT. "Technology lobbyists just want to influence legislative bodies the way the IT giant has done for over a decade."