OpenAI hires Chuck Schumers daughter as Big Tech cozies up to Democrats ahead of midterms: report

OpenAI has reportedly hired Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s daughter Jessica Schumer for a top policy job as Silicon Valley increasingly works to shore up ties with Democrats ahead of November’s midterm elections.Jessica Schumer, Amazon’s former top public-policy official in New York, is joining OpenAI to handle the company’s government outreach and partnerships in Northeastern states, Axios reported, citing a spokesperson for the AI giant.The Harvard and Yale-educated Schumer brings deep ties to Democratic politics and government to OpenAI, which is rapidly expanding its operations in Washington, DC, and state capitals as lawmakers wrestle with how to regulate the booming industry.Before joining Amazon in 2020, Schumer’s résumé included serving in the Obama White House as chief of staff of the Council of Economic Advisers and working as policy director for Tim Kaine during Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.OpenAI’s hiring of Jessica Schumer could draw scrutiny because her father, a Dem, helped lead the Senate’s push to develop federal AI policy, including a series of bipartisan forums that culminated in a policy roadmap.Her younger sister Alison Schumer has also built a career in tech, working at Facebook and Instagram before moving to Airbnb and later returning to Facebook.Her roles have included policy and communications at Instagram, public affairs at Airbnb and product marketing at Facebook.Jessica Schumer’s hiring comes as Big Tech companies that aggressively courted President Trump after his return to the White House increasingly hedge their bets ahead of an election that could hand Democrats control of the House.OpenAI itself has pursued what appears to be a bipartisan strategy.It also brought aboard Caulder Harvill-Childs to handle policy and partnerships in the Southeast.Harvill-Childs, who most recently worked in public policy at Meta, previously served under Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican...