OpenAI is bringing on some big guns in the lead-up to its IPO
OpenAI is bringing on some big guns in the lead-up to its IPO
OpenAI 在 IPO 前夕招募重量级人才
OpenAI is bringing on some big names to the team in the lead-up to its public debut: Google DeepMind AI legend Noam Shazeer and former Trump White House AI policy official Dean Ball. 在筹备首次公开募股（IPO）之际，OpenAI 正在招募多位重量级人物加入团队：Google DeepMind 的 AI 传奇人物 Noam Shazeer 以及前特朗普白宫 AI 政策官员 Dean Ball。
Shazeer, a co-lead at Gemini and the founder of AI role-playing startup Character AI, announced his departure from Google on Wednesday. He had been at the company since 2000, leaving only for a three-year period when he left to co-found Character AI. Two years ago, Google rehired Shazeer in a $2.7 billion deal that gave the tech giant access to the startup’s technology. The move is the latest in a series of shufflings between the top AI labs, including Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. Shazeer 是 Gemini 的联合负责人，也是 AI 角色扮演初创公司 Character AI 的创始人，他于周三宣布离开 Google。他自 2000 年起就在该公司工作，期间仅离开过三年去联合创立 Character AI。两年前，Google 以 27 亿美元的交易重新聘用了 Shazeer，该交易使这家科技巨头获得了该初创公司的技术。此举是包括 Google、OpenAI、Anthropic 和 Meta 在内的顶级 AI 实验室之间一系列人才流动中的最新一例。
Shazeer is credited for being one of the foundational minds behind modern generative AI. He co-authored the seminal 2017 paper “Attention Is All You Need,” which introduced the Transformer architecture. Before leaving Google, Shazeer had also reportedly been stirring the pot when it came to political issues. According to The Information, Shazeer voiced opinions on internal messaging boards about transgender identity and Israel’s war in Gaza that resulted in management deleting his posts. Whether those controversies will follow him to his new employer remains to be seen. Shazeer 被认为是现代生成式 AI 的奠基人之一。他曾合著了 2017 年那篇开创性的论文《Attention Is All You Need》，该论文引入了 Transformer 架构。据报道，在离开 Google 之前，Shazeer 在政治议题上也曾引发争议。据《The Information》报道，Shazeer 在内部留言板上发表了关于跨性别身份和以色列在加沙战争的观点，导致管理层删除了他的帖子。这些争议是否会跟随他进入新雇主公司还有待观察。
In the meantime, OpenAI is also shoring up its policy credentials by bringing Ball to the team. Ball had a brief stint last year in the White House, where he helped publish America’s AI Action Plan before stepping down to rejoin the techno-libertarian think tank the Foundation for American Innovation as a senior fellow. “I am pleased and honored to announce that, on July 6, I’ll be joining OpenAI as leader of a new team called Strategic Futures,” Ball wrote on X on Thursday. “Our mandate will be to help the company’s leadership shape frontier AI policy.” 与此同时，OpenAI 也通过引入 Ball 来加强其政策背景。Ball 去年曾在白宫短暂任职，期间他协助发布了美国的《AI 行动计划》，随后辞职并以高级研究员身份重返技术自由主义智库“美国创新基金会”（Foundation for American Innovation）。“我很高兴且荣幸地宣布，我将于 7 月 6 日加入 OpenAI，担任一个名为‘战略未来’（Strategic Futures）的新团队负责人，”Ball 周四在 X 上写道。“我们的使命将是帮助公司领导层制定前沿 AI 政策。”
Ball will report directly to Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon. The “small, high-agency team” will focus on “matters pertaining to: catastrophic risk, recursive self-improvement, labor market impact, and the relationship between the frontier labs, governments (particularly the U.S. Federal Government), and society,” Ball wrote in a blog post. The Strategic Futures team will cover both public-facing policy and internal governance, he added. Ball 将直接向首席战略官 Jason Kwon 汇报。Ball 在一篇博客文章中写道，这个“小型、高能动性的团队”将专注于“与灾难性风险、递归自我改进、劳动力市场影响，以及前沿实验室、政府（特别是美国联邦政府）与社会之间关系相关的事宜”。他补充说，战略未来团队将涵盖面向公众的政策和内部治理。
That last is important — Ball noted that “almost by necessity,” AI labs will have to lead on AI governance decisions. “In other words, internal governance will be more central to the future of AI than most people realize,” Ball wrote. 最后一点很重要——Ball 指出，“几乎出于必然”，AI 实验室将不得不主导 AI 治理决策。“换句话说，内部治理对 AI 未来的重要性将超过大多数人的认知，”Ball 写道。
Ball’s decision to join OpenAI — arguably an AI favorite in the administration — comes as Anthropic battles once again with the U.S. government. Late last week, President Donald Trump ordered an export control ban on Anthropic’s latest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, leading to the AI firm being forced to take the models down entirely to avoid noncompliance. For anyone who had “government interference” on their S-1 risk factor bingo card, Ball is what it looks like when a company locks in its insider status while a rival is squeezed. Ball 加入 OpenAI（可以说是本届政府在 AI 领域的宠儿）的决定，正值 Anthropic 再次与美国政府发生冲突之际。上周晚些时候，唐纳德·特朗普总统下令对 Anthropic 的最新模型 Fable 5 和 Mythos 5 实施出口管制禁令，导致这家 AI 公司被迫完全下架这些模型以避免违规。对于那些在 S-1 风险因素清单中列入“政府干预”的人来说，Ball 的加入正是当一家公司锁定其内部地位，而竞争对手受到挤压时的真实写照。