OpenAI has hired Liz Wamai as head of recruiting after more than three years at Netflix, as the company looks to beef up its headcount. Wamai will lead talent acquisition efforts as OpenAI plans to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 from 4,500 by the end of the year, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Wamai brings extensive experience in recruiting, having previously held roles at Meta and Bloomberg. She also held several finance-related recruiting positions at Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs. "I've spent my career helping build teams behind some extraordinary products and companies... This is one of those moments," Wamai wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

Recent Hires and Workforce Expansion

OpenAI's recent hiring spree includes cybersecurity veteran Clint Gibler as a member of its technical staff. Gibler will work with Michael Aiello, OpenAI's head of product for cyber, and brings over six years of experience as the head of research at software development company Semgrep. He also spent more than four years at IT services and consulting company NCC Group in various security-related roles.

Other key additions include former Ironclad CEO Jason Boehmig to lead its product team for the legal industry and Salesforce AgentExchange CEO Brian Landsman as vice president of global partnerships.

Key Personnel Changes

Departures and Competitive Moves

Several employees have left OpenAI recently to join rival Anthropic. Clive Chan, a technical staff member, departed after over two years to join Anthropic in the same role. Anthropic also hired OpenAI co-founder and former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy to lead a new team focused on accelerating pre-training research. Other notable departures include Jan Leike, former head of alignment, and co-founder John Schulman.

Regulatory Filing

Earlier this month, OpenAI submitted a confidential draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the SEC. The company addressed the disclosure candidly, stating it expects the filing to leak and wanted to announce it proactively. "We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company," OpenAI said in a statement on its website.

OpenAI is facing a multi-state investigation as attorneys general examine the company's data practices, safety measures, and the potential impact of its artificial intelligence products on consumers ahead of its anticipated initial public offering. A coalition of state attorneys general has launched the investigation and served the company with a subpoena, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter.

Subpoena Details and Scope

The subpoena, reportedly issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, seeks documents related to a broad range of operational topics. The request covers advertising practices, user engagement and retention strategies, and consumer and health data handling. Investigators are also requesting information on activities involving minors and seniors, deep-learning models, AI sycophancy, and internal company policies. AI sycophancy refers to situations in which chatbots excessively agree with or reinforce users’ views rather than providing balanced responses.

Regulatory and Legal Context

The reported investigation comes shortly after OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential IPO. The company is also facing legal scrutiny elsewhere. Florida became the first state to sue OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman earlier this month, alleging they knowingly released an unsafe product despite warnings about potential risks. In April, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI over ChatGPT’s alleged role in assisting a suspect involved in a mass shooting at Florida State University.

Broader Industry Scrutiny

OpenAI is not alone in attracting attention from state regulators. In December, a coalition of 42 attorneys general sent a letter to OpenAI, Meta Platforms, Inc., Anthropic, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and SpaceX's xAI. The letter urged stronger safeguards for vulnerable users and warned developers could face accountability for harmful chatbot outputs. California Attorney General Rob Bonta also announced an investigation earlier this year into sexually explicit images allegedly generated using xAI’s Grok chatbot.