- OpenAI has appointed George Osborne as Head of OpenAI for Countries
- Former UK Chancellor will oversee government partnerships and other Stargate expansion initiatives
- Osborne praised OpenAI’s commitment to responsible AI
Former UK Chancellor George Osborne has been named Managing Director and Head of OpenAI for Countries – a role that will see him lead the company’s Stargate data center expansion outside of the US.
Other responsibilities will include helping governments to adopt and deploy OpenAI tools, expanding government partnerships, further work on AI infrastructure and public service use cases.
The ‘for Countries’ expansion came to Project Stargate earlier in May 2025, in response to demand from multiple countries asking OpenAI for help building Stargate-style national AI infrastructure.
George Osborne becomes Head of OpenAI for Countries
Stargate kicked off with its first campus in Abilene, Texas, with more US sites planned already. The ‘for Countries’ initiative was added with the intention of helping countries build their own secure, sovereign infrastructure, offering customized ChatGPT experiences in terms of language and culture.
When it launched, OpenAI for Countries set out with the target of working with 10 countries in round one before expanding.
Osborne will begin the role in January 2026 to oversee the global expansion of the company’s scheme, and he is expected to represent the ChatGPT-maker at the World Economic Forum in Davos next month (per Reuters reporting).
Along from his six-year stint as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 2010 and 2016 (and a five-year stint as Shadow Chancellor before that), Osborne has also held roles at investment bank Evercore, the British Museum, and Coinbase.
OpenAI’s push to hire a notable political figure is a testament to the company’s commitment to deepen its tied with government agencies as it looks to get AI into the hands of federal agencies globally.
“In my conversations with Sam Altman, Brad Lightcap, and other senior colleagues, it’s clear they are exceptionally impressive leaders and that they care very deeply about their mission to ensure the power of artificial intelligence is developed responsibly, and the benefits are felt by all,” Osborne wrote in an X post.
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