**[OpenAI and Anthropic Compete to Recruit Former Trump Administration Officials as AI Industry Seeks Washington Support]** BlockBeats News, October 9 — According to CNBC, OpenAI and Anthropic are recruiting former officials from the Trump administration for senior positions to strengthen their ties with the U.S. government. As cutting-edge AI technology increasingly becomes viewed as a national security issue, both companies are ramping up their political affairs strategies to address the impact of policies related to regulation, federal procurement, supply chain risk assessments, and export controls. This year, Anthropic has hired at least two former Trump administration officials: former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Liddell joined the board in February, while Sihao Huang, who previously served as a senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), joined the company in September to oversee frontier compute strategy. OpenAI has also recently brought on several former government officials, including Thomas Lind, who was responsible for AI policy at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director; Dean Ball, who contributed to drafting the Trump administration’s "American AI Initiative"; and Peter Bowman-Davis, who served as Chief AI Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Anthropic previously had a public dispute with the U.S. Department of Defense and, in September, faced a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals upholding its supply chain risk assessment. Following this, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has recently sought to ease tensions by meeting with Trump and other AI industry executives. Analysts suggest that as AI companies face increasingly complex regulatory and national security demands, government relations are becoming a critical component of industry competition. Both companies are currently hiring for multiple political affairs-related positions in an effort to gain greater influence in the formulation of U.S. AI policies. [Original Link]