Noam Shazeer, a key figure in AI research, and Dean Ball, a former White House policy official, are joining OpenAI in significant new roles.
OpenAI has hired two high-profile figures in AI development and policy. Noam Shazeer, a former Google DeepMind researcher and co-founder of Character AI, and Dean Ball, a former White House AI policy official, will both join the company.
Shazeer, a prominent researcher in the field, rejoined Google in a $2.7 billion deal two years ago after co-founding Character AI. He announced his departure from Google on Wednesday. His move to OpenAI marks another major shift in the competitive landscape for AI talent.
Ball will join OpenAI on July 6 to lead a new team called Strategic Futures. According to OpenAI, this team will focus on frontier AI policy, covering critical areas including catastrophic risk, recursive self-improvement, and labor market impact. The team will also handle government relations.
The Strategic Futures team will cover both public-facing policy and internal governance.
Ball will report directly to Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon. During his tenure in the White House in 2024, Ball helped publish America's AI Action Plan, providing him with key experience in shaping national AI policy.