Austin Lau, Who Helped Build Anthropic's Growth Function, Says He Has Joined OpenAI
lots of news breaking these days so I may as well sneak mine in if anyone cares and share that I recently joined @OpenAI 馃 my time at Anthropic was a fever dream in the best way possible. got to help build the growth function, work alongside some really really talented people, and tackle some of the most challenging problems of my career. incredibly grateful for the experience and excited for what鈥檚 ahead. also in case you were wondering, Ant has better coffee/drinks and OAI has better snacks.
Context
It is another public move from Anthropic to OpenAI on a day when several staff departures were discussed, showing how actively the two labs are trading talent.
Talent moves between OpenAI and Anthropic draw close attention because the two labs compete directly on models and products. Earlier in this deck, Theo said his last day at Anthropic had come, and on Nov 4 OpenAI also welcomed Cat Wu from Anthropic. Austin Lau's X bio lists growth at OpenAI, and previous work at Anthropic, Notion and Dropbox.
Deep dive
Austin Lau (@helloitsaustin) posted on the evening of Nov 4 ET that he recently joined OpenAI.
He wrote that with lots of news breaking, he would sneak his in. He described his time at Anthropic as a fever dream in the best way, saying he helped build the growth function, worked with very talented people and tackled some of the hardest problems of his career. He added a light comparison: Anthropic has better coffee and drinks, while OpenAI has better snacks.
His X bio now lists growth at OpenAI, and says he previously worked at Anthropic, Notion and Dropbox. The post does not give his new title or start date.
The announcement came on a day of several reported moves between the two labs. Greg Brockman of OpenAI publicly welcomed Cat Wu to the team that evening, and Theo said earlier in the day that he had left Anthropic.
The post passed 120,000 views by the time of this scan.
What to expect next
Watch whether more Anthropic staff announce moves to OpenAI, or the reverse, in the coming days. Growth teams shape how AI products are sold and adopted, so his work at OpenAI may show up in how ChatGPT and Codex reach new users. Neither company has commented on the move in posts found during this scan. More details on his role may come later.