The AI talent wars show no signs of slowing down, with companies making headlines weekly for their latest high-profile hires. This includes engineers they poach from each other or hire, but also, increasingly, senior management who can support them as they scale.
Less than 10 days after Slack CEO Denise Dresser became OpenAI’s chief revenue officer, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that she was joins Sam Altman’s company. Shortly thereafter, crypto exchange Coinbase separately appointed Osborne leads the internal advisory board.
The announcements drew particular attention in the UK, where commentators noted that Osborne was joining a growing list former British politicians now working for major US tech companies.
If you’re not familiar with this or that trend, here’s what you need to know.
What was Osborne’s career like?
A former Conservative MP, George Osborne served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 — a role equivalent to that of Chancellor of the Exchequer or Chancellor of the Exchequer in other countries, and currently held by Rachel Reeves.
After Prime Minister David Cameron resigned following the Brexit vote in 2016, Osborne finally left public office in 2017. Alongside many other commitments, including a part-time advisory role for investment firm BlackRock, he served as publisher of Evening Standard from 2017 to 2020.
During this time, he also co-founded a VC firm, Capital 9 meterswith his brother Theo and Theo’s brother-in-law David Fisher as co-founders and managing partners. Several companies in 9yards’ portfolio have since gone public — including Robinhood, Toast and Coinbase.
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What is his new role at OpenAI?
Osborne was announced to X that he joined OpenAI “as CEO and head of OpenAI for [C]countries, based here in London.” It will help expand existing partnerships and create new ones, wrote OpenAI’s head of international affairs, Chris Lehane. on LinkedIn.
Launched in May 2025, OpenAI for Countries is an initiative through which the AI company works with governments seeking to build in-country data center capacity and identify ChatGPT for their language and culture.
OpenAI for Countries is an extension of the Stargate project, a $500 billion initiative through which OpenAI is building five new data centers across the US with Oracle and SoftBank. But beyond infrastructure, its stated goal is to “support countries around the world that would prefer to build on democratic AI rails.”
As OpenAI turns 10it’s only natural that he starts recruiting the kind of talent he won’t get turned down at the Ritz for wearing sneakers. An Oxford graduate and the son of a baronet, Osborne fits the bill – but his network and reach are even more valuable, and his podcast with former Labor shadow chancellor Ed Balls, called “Political Currency“, underlines his extensive political connections.
His background and contacts could be even more directly relevant to Coinbase, which he already advised and where he will now “play a much more active role helping us with policymakers around the world,” said the firm’s chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad. he told Reuters.
Staying on the right side of regulators is especially important for crypto exchanges like Coinbase, which is making efforts to influence governments in the US and beyond. But this is also critical for OpenAI, which intends to weigh in as artificial intelligence gains a foothold on governments’ agendas.
According to Lehane’s LinkedIn post, Osborne’s decision to take on the role “reflects a shared belief that AI is becoming critical infrastructure – and early decisions about how it is built, governed and deployed will shape the economy and geopolitics for years to come.”
The pattern to watch
Osborne’s latest role immediately drew parallels with other high-profile British politicians who have gone on to join major US tech companies.
These include former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who served as Meta’s head of policy for more than six years, and, more recently, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who took on advisory roles with Microsoft and AI company Anthropic.
This trend raises different concerns depending on your perspective. Some critics worry about active members of Parliament like Sunak potentially advocating for US corporate interests while still serving in government. Others disagree with former officials such as Osborne drawing on their government experience and connections to secure extremely profitable positions in the private sector.
The “revolving door” phenomenon between government and the private sector it is not new. But the practice has drawn intense scrutiny in Europe, especially when controversial foreign companies — whether tech companies or retailers like Shane — hiring ex government officials help navigate regulations and influence policy.
On the other hand, this is simply a matter of leveraging skills and experience. In his bio on the 9yards team page, the VC firm advertises that “George devised many of the regulations that positioned the UK as a global fintech leader, including the open banking regime and the FCA sandbox.”
Others, however, view Osborne’s career moves more critically. They point to his controversial austerity policies as chancellor and note that he has a history of ethics concerns around the revolving door. For example, when he took up the job of editor of the Evening Standard in 2017, he first failed to seek approval from the government’s ethics watchdog – a move that led to the body being criticized as “toothless”. His attitude at the time was telling: “At the age of 45, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just being an ex-chancellor,” Osborne said.
Either way, that mindset — the quick transition from public service to high-paying private roles — is exactly what makes his appointments at OpenAI and Coinbase part of a broader pattern of ethics watchdogs today.
