OpenAI Swipes Match’s Privacy Chief for New Data Protection Role

OpenAI’s robust appetite for data—and lawyers—has continued with its hire of Idriss Kechida this month as the company’s first global data protection officer.

Kechida, most recently an associate general counsel and chief privacy officer at Match Group Inc., confirmed in a message his new role at OpenAI. The former senior associate at Baker McKenzie is one of more than a dozen lawyers to join the generative artificial intelligence provider’s in-house ranks since spring.

“I’ll be advising the company on the diverse privacy laws that apply across the various markets where OpenAI operates and ensuring we maintain strict compliance,” he said. “This will involve close collaboration with all teams across the organization, including the incredibly talented privacy legal team.”

That group is led by Emma Redmond, who was hired a year ago to be OpenAI’s lead privacy and data protection lawyer after heading up that portfolio at fintech Stripe Inc. Kechida said he’s known Redmond for years—both are based in Dublin, a hot spot for European Union privacy regulators scrutinizing data use by AI enterprises—and will work with her and her broader team on “shared objectives” at OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT.

Kechida said his motivation for leaving Match, which he joined almost eight years ago after a stint at PayPal Holdings Inc., was “driven by a deep interest in navigating the complex and novel privacy challenges that this groundbreaking technology presents.” OpenAI’s advances in generative AI have worried some technology moguls, governments, employees, businesses, and academics.

At OpenAI, which weathered an attempted boardroom coup late last year that led to the brief ouster of chief executive officer and co-founder Sam Altman, who received support from most of the startup’s legal staff, Kechida said he’s committed to ensuring that generative AI benefits everyone.

“The company is fully aware that privacy is, and will remain, central to achieving its mission,” he said.

A Match spokeswoman said Kechida has been succeeded by its new privacy chief Brandon Kerstens, a Canadian lawyer who has worked on privacy and data protection matters for the Dallas-based company, which owns dating apps like Hinge, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Tinder. Match announced a ChatGPT partnership with OpenAI in February.

New Recruits

OpenAI didn’t immediately return a request for comment about Kechida’s hire and that of nearly two dozen other lawyers—when including positions outside of its legal team—in recent months. OpenAI’s general counsel Che Chang spoke last summer with Bloomberg Law about the company’s plans to increase the size of its in-house legal team, which has expanded within the past year.

During that time OpenAI has faced new threats to its operations—such as lawsuits related to its business model and practices—as well as scrutiny over its trust and safety protocols and use of non-disclosure agreements.

New legal additions include senior counsel Jeffrey Shih and Alexander Zbrozek, senior director of tax Jay Cha-young Kim, and associate general counsel Susan Kim, all of whom joined San Francisco-based OpenAI from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, a frequent target of its recruitment efforts.

OpenAI also hired deputy general counsel Daniel Cook and commercial legal expert Mangesh Kulkarni from Akasa Inc., a generative AI outfit in the health care space, as well as ServiceNow Inc.’s Benton Gaffney as a deputy general counsel for AI policy and regulations, international, and competition.

Danielle Bembry Westbrook, most recently head of legal at video technology company Loom Inc., came aboard as counsel in June, as did Ali Buttars, a former global head of trademarks and brand protection at Netflix Inc., and WilmerHale counsel Shannon Togawa Mercer for a cybersecurity and privacy role. Morrison & Foerster partner Galia Amram was hired as an associate general counsel.

OpenAI brought on Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom associate Kurt Kurzenhauser last month as a corporate counsel after welcoming aboard former Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld international trade counsel Alan Hayes, who also previously worked at Amazon.com Inc.

Lawyers have also been added to OpenAI’s staff to fill non-legal jobs.

Lindsey Tran, a labor and employment lawyer who worked at Twitter Inc. and was most recently global head of employee relations and investigations at Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc., is now OpenAI’s global head of employee relations. Tax lawyer Stephen Bonovich was hired from Agilent Technologies Inc. to be vice president of tax. Chris Lehane, a veteran Washington lawyer and lobbyist, was recently named vice president of public works. Other lawyers to land in OpenAI’s policy group include Joshua Lawson, Deborah Im, and Ebele Okobi.