At OpenAI, a 9-month search raises questions about the CCO’s place at the table 

OpenAI’s former CCO Hannah Wong stepped down in January after nearly five years at the company. Her replacement has yet to be named, even as the company has spent much of 2026 dealing with controversy around AI safety, security and regulation, a court fight with Elon Musk, and questions about its work with the Pentagon. A possible IPO is also on the horizon.

Meanwhile, the public is growing more uneasy about AI. An August Pew survey found that just 8% of Americans are more excited than concerned about the technology, down from 18% in 2021.

Finding the person who will help OpenAI navigate all of this has proven surprisingly difficult.

Fortune senior AI reporter Emily Forlini reports that OpenAI’s top choice, Uber’s Jill Hazelbaker, turned down the job this spring. After its internal recruiters struggled to fill the position, OpenAI brought in executive search firm Daversa Partners this summer. The company told Fortune it is focused on finding the right person and does not want to rush the hire.

Part of the challenge may be the job itself.

OpenAI is still working through how senior the position should be,  Forlini writes. One option would have the CCO report to president and cofounder Greg Brockman. Another would put the position under the company’s chief marketing officer, a role that has also been vacant since April.

That debate offers a window into how companies think about a job that often gets less attention than other C-suite roles. At OpenAI, the next CCO could be advising leadership as the company deals with regulators, investors, employees and customers, while also trying to explain AI to a public that is increasingly wary of it. Where that executive sits in the hierarchy determines how much access and influence they have when those decisions are being made.

Bill Margaritis, who led communications at FedEx for 15 years, told Fortune that a seasoned CCO should sit at the table with management, assessing risk, and helping leaders see around corners. He describes the role as an “early warning system for the enterprise.”

That may be particularly important for OpenAI. CEO Sam Altman himself has acknowledged that the AI industry has done a “terrible job” explaining the technology’s benefits to ordinary people. He has also said that if the public misunderstands OpenAI’s approach to safety, “that means we’ve done a bad job of communicating.”

OpenAI’s nine-month search shows how consequential that job has become, and how unsettled companies can still be about where it belongs in the leadership ranks.

Read the full story on OpenAI’s search for its next communications chief here.

Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com

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