Exclusive: OpenAI names Hannah Wong as chief communications officer
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OpenAI is elevating its communication function by naming Hannah Wong as its first chief communications officer, the company told Axios first.
Why it matters: The AI company continues to roll out new technology at a rapid pace, amid heightened regulatory scrutiny and pushback from creatives, news publishers and Hollywood.
Context: Wong, who joined OpenAI in 2021 from Apple, will continue to report to CEO Sam Altman and will oversee media relations, internal communications, strategic messaging, events, brand design, social media, community and talent partnerships.
- The communications team — which had just eight members when ChatGPT launched — has been quietly expanding and now boasts more than 50 people across the U.S., Europe and Asia.
- "We prioritize finding 'T-shaped' people who are talented generalists but also have deep expertise in their specialized areas," Wong told Axios.
What they're saying: OpenAI's communication team is challenged with explaining these technological advancements in a way that all audiences can understand.
- "Regardless of who we're really trying to reach, we must use broad, simple language, knowing that this is going to impact everybody's lives in different ways," says Wong.
State of play: Because 92% of Fortune 500 companies are using OpenAI's tools and 100 million people actively use ChatGPT on a weekly basis, the company and its executives are often looked to as the de facto spokespeople for the entire AI industry, says Lindsey Held, head of public relations at OpenAI.
- "We are trying to do a lot more in terms of educating how to use these tools," she said.
- "It's less futuristic and scary if you understand the tangible value, and so we're constantly thinking about how we do that increasingly globally, as we learn together, just given that this [technology] is advancing by the week."
- A tangible way the OpenAI comms team uses ChatGPT is with prompts like: "poke holes in this argument," "tighten this sentence" or "critique this statement from the perspective of [audience]."
Of note: Anthropic is also strengthening its bench of communicators — specifically those focused on tech and product communications — to help better explain its AI tools.
What's next: OpenAI researchers have said they are closing in on AI that can perform human-level "reasoning."
- Wong and her team will have the job of explaining what that means.
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