Anthropic Appoints Former Supreme Court Justice to Lead AI Policy Amid Government Tensions

Anthropic names global affairs chief to tackle AI policy as Trump tensions persist

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Anthropic on Tuesday named Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar its first chief global affairs officer, as the developer of artificial intelligence models called Claude navigates vast policy challenges and changing regulation around its technology. Cuéllar will report to Anthropic President Daniela Amodei, a company spokesperson told Reuters. His job, based in the startup's San Francisco headquarters, will include managing relationships with the U.S. government and the many countries where Anthropic is expanding globally. Anthropic's hire represents a choice for a consensus builder with wide-ranging government experience as well as AI expertise, the spokesperson said. A special assistant in former Democratic President Barack Obama's White House, ⁠Cuéllar is tasked with finding common ground with U.S. President Donald Trump's Republican administration, which at points blacklisted and ordered controls around Anthropic's AI this year. Cuéllar, who goes by Tino, has since January served on Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust that exists to make the startup deliver on its public benefit mission. Cuéllar is stepping down from that role to join the company, and the trust aims to find a successor to the independent four-person body. His experience leading the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace until July included co-chairing a task force on U.S. national security and nuclear proliferation. Some AI industry leaders have looked to nuclear arms controls as inspiration for managing the technology's risks. A 2025 study co-led by Cuéllar also informed the passage of SB 53, a California law that protects AI whistleblowers, requires high-revenue developers ⁠to report on standards and incidents, and includes a maximum $1 million fine per violation. Anthropic endorsed the bill, opens new tab. The company declined to make Cuéllar available for an interview. In a statement, the former California Supreme Court justice said policymakers were realizing that AI's development and governance had reached an "inflection point." "The choices we make today will determine whether humanity can harness extraordinary possibilities to advance science and improve lives across the world or face enormous ⁠risk and growing inequality," Cuéllar said. Oren Cass, founder of the conservative think tank American Compass, told Reuters that the pragmatic and progressive Cuéllar would be "open-minded" to the Trump administration's positions and eager to find the root of any disagreement. "His approach will be one that provokes good deliberative policymaking with the ⁠administration," said Cass, who called Cuéllar a friend since they met several years ago and started convening bipartisan lunch discussions. Cuéllar takes up his Anthropic role at a time of growing concerns about AI-powered hacking and a turbulent relationship with the U.S. government. A high-profile standoff ⁠over military red lines led the Pentagon to blacklist its technology earlier this year, a designation that Anthropic is challenging in court. More recently, the Trump administration handed down an export control directive that temporarily banned Anthropic from selling its top-shelf Mythos 5 and Fable 5 AI models to foreigners over national security concerns. Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Lincoln Feast. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence * Public Policy Jeffrey Dastin Thomson Reuters Jeffrey Dastin is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where he reports on the technology industry and artificial intelligence. He joined Reuters in 2014, originally writing about airlines and travel from the New York bureau. Dastin graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. He was part of a team that examined lobbying by Amazon.com around the world, for which he won a SOPA Award in 2022.

Anthropic Appoints Former California Supreme Court Justice as First Global Affairs Chief | PYMNTS.com

Cuéllar will lead Anthropic's work on policy, strategic international engagement and government relationships worldwide, the artificial intelligence startup said in a Tuesday (Aug. 4) press release. Anthropic is adding its first chief global affairs officer at a time when governments around the world are debating the impact of AI on economies, security and communities, the company said in the release. Anthropic President and Co-Founder Daniela Amodei said in the release that Cuéllar will "partner with governments, civil society and community groups as they engage with both the risks and opportunities presented by advanced AI." "Tino has spent his career helping public institutions respond to times of change with thoughtfulness, pragmatism and deep commitment to the common good," Amodei said. "At all levels of government, the law and academia, Tino has served with sound judgment and civic-mindedness, and we're looking forward to him putting these principles to work at Anthropic." After serving as a California Supreme Court Justice, Cuéllar joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He recently stepped down as president of that global policy research institution, according to the release. Cuéllar has also worked in the White House and federal agencies in three presidential administrations, per the release. To join Anthropic, Cuéllar stepped down from Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust, where he served as a trustee since January. Cuéllar said in the release that the world is at an inflection point when it comes to the governance and development of AI. "The choices we make today will determine whether humanity can harness extraordinary possibilities to advance science and improve lives around the world or face enormous risk and growing inequality," Cuéllar said. "Democracies must set the terms on which this technology advances, and there is no more consequential place to be shaping that work right now than Anthropic." Anthropic's announcement came on the day that the Anthropic, Google, Meta and OpenAI are scheduled to meet with White House officials to discuss the framework for voluntary federal cybersecurity assessments of advanced U.S. AI models. The announcement also came a little over five months after the White House told federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's AI products, escalating a dispute that started inside the Defense Department.