OpenAI has made a strategic move to bolster its influence on artificial intelligence policy at the state level by hiring three experienced policy professionals. Among them is Jessica Schumer, who is notably the daughter of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. She previously served as chief of staff at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama and later managed public policy for Amazon in New York. She will now lead OpenAI's policy efforts in the Northeastern United States.
Another new hire, Caulder Harvill-Childs, brings experience from Meta's public policy team and previously worked for Republican Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns. He will oversee policy in the Southeast. Thomas MacLellan, who has a background in cybersecurity policy at Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, and FireEye, will focus on state-level cybersecurity policy.
OpenAI describes its approach as "reverse federalism": instead of waiting for a unified federal law from Congress, it pushes large states like California and New York to adopt similar AI rules, gradually creating a de facto national standard. The company has publicly noted that California, New York, and Illinois have already begun to converge on frontier AI safety regulations.