OpenAI Taps Former Meta Executive to Head Strategic Initiatives

(Bloomberg) — OpenAI has hired former Meta Platforms Inc. executive Irina Kofman to head up strategic initiatives, continuing to beef up its staff with veterans of big technology companies.

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Kofman, who recently started at the artificial intelligence startup, is reporting directly to OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and will focus on safety and preparedness initially, said a company spokesperson. Kofman spent five years at Meta, where she was most recently a senior director of product management for generative AI, according to her LinkedIn.

Meta declined to comment on Kofman’s departure. The owner of Facebook and Instagram has invested heavily in AI, seeking to improve its advertising business, for example, by using algorithms to better determine when and where to show ads and providing marketers with generative AI tools to help them create more effective campaigns.

AI startups such as OpenAI are increasingly hiring business leaders with experience at the larger tech companies, particularly in social media, as they scale up and compete with the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta.

In June, OpenAI hired former Instagram and Twitter executive Kevin Weil as chief product officer and former Nextdoor Chief Executive Officer Sarah Friar as chief financial officer. The ChatGPT-maker’s rival, Anthropic, also has recruited big tech talent recently, hiring former Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger as chief product officer in May.

While OpenAI is adding to its leadership team, it has also faced some high-profile staff departures, including former co-founder John Schulman and prominent researcher Jan Leike, who both moved to Anthropic.

–With assistance from Aisha Counts.