SAN FRANCISCO — Former Sen. Laphonza Butler is now advising OpenAI, her first known client since the California Democrat left Congress and landed at the global public affairs firm Actum, people familiar with the contract told POLITICO and the ChatGPT-maker confirmed.
Tapped by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat, Butler served just over a year in the Senate to complete the term before returning to her roots as a behind-the-scenes power broker and becoming a partner at Actum. The California Democrat is barred from lobbying for a year as a former member of Congress.
It’s not clear what issues Butler will be providing guidance on for the AI developer.
OpenAI is facing an inflection point in its plans for future growth, hoping contentious changes to a more conventional corporate structure will help the company raise money to keep ahead of cash-slinging competitors. Those plans have run up against fierce resistance from former co-founder Elon Musk and civic leaders, particularly in California, home to the company headquarters and where Butler touts powerful connections with the labor world.
Three people familiar with Butler’s new gig, granted anonymity to disclose private personnel moves, confirmed it to POLITICO. An OpenAI spokesperson separately told POLITICO Butler is an adviser. The former senator did not respond to a request for comment.
Prior to joining Congress in 2023, Butler was a longtime labor leader with the Service Employees International Union and a campaign adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris. She came to the Senate from the top post at EMILY’s List, which seeks to elect female candidates who support abortion rights.
OpenAI is not her first industry rodeo. She previously worked in private sector consulting for companies like Uber through the firm rebranded as Bearstar Strategies and later made at least $1 million from Airbnb stock as the short-term rental platform’s director for public policy.
Butler went into political consulting in 2018 as preparation for Harris’ not-yet-unannounced first presidential run. Harris aides and allies told POLITICO earlier this year that she is seriously considering a run for governor in California and gave herself until the end of the summer to decide whether to enter the crowded field.
Butler said in a January interview that she would provide Actum clients with strategic consulting services, indicating a special interest in “the intersection of work and workers with technology and how we can build a society that works for everyone.” She intended to split her time at the firm between Los Angeles and D.C.
During her Senate stint, Butler ventured into introducing some bills on artificial intelligence. One directed federal agencies to use the technology to better predict and respond to extreme weather. Another proposed $250 millionin government funding to educate students and upskill marginalized communities for jobs in an AI future. Neither passed that session.
The nexus of AI and race has been of particular interest to Butler. It repeatedly featured as a theme in her questions during congressional hearings. She said in late 2023 that the technology is “already widening preexisting inequities,” but then hosted a panel last fall about how AI can empower Black communities.
There, she also reflected on AI’s potential to displace workers, telling attendees that “fewer people are going to be required across broader industries, particularly those in … traditionally white-collar positions.”
On a separate but just as thorny issue, Butler celebrated Newsom signing legislation in Sacramento last year, backed by the powerful Hollywood actors’ guild SAG-AFTRA and meant to protect performers’ digital likeness in the age of AI deepfakes.
Still, she has returned to a more bullish view at times, including in one October interview where the then-senator said she wanted to protect Americans without stifling the opportunities that AI could bring. She argued lawmakers don’t need to make “false choices” between the interests of AI executives and workers.
She’s praised Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the Biden administration for creating spaces to gather feedback on AI from labor, civil society and community leaders. OpenAI has been stepping up its engagement with those segments in the last few months as it attempts to shift toward a more conventional business structure and curb groups’ concerns.
In the past year, OpenAI hired at least one other Harris ally. The AI company’s global affairs team is staffed by Debbie Mesloh, Harris’ old campaign consultant and friend, and Marisa Moret, whose time as chief of staff for the San Francisco city attorney coincided with Harris’ as the district attorney.
Butler, Moret and Chris Lehane, the Democratic strategist turned OpenAI’s vice president of global affairs, all overlapped at Airbnb.