Anthropic appoints head of global affairs to spearhead AI diplomacy amid rising tensions with Trump.

      Anthropic has appointed Tino Cuellar as its first chief global affairs officer to oversee governmental relations during a challenging time marked by Pentagon scrutiny and export issues. Cuellar, a seasoned policy expert, will report to Anthropic president Daniela Amodei and work from the company's headquarters in San Francisco, according to a spokesperson for the company.

      In his role, Cuellar will manage the company's relationships with the US government and the increasing number of countries where Anthropic is expanding. Cuellar, also known as Tino, is a former California Supreme Court justice and recently served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace until July.

      He previously worked as a special assistant in the Obama administration, focusing on regulatory policy and public safety. At Carnegie, he co-led a bipartisan task force addressing nuclear proliferation and US national security, an area some AI leaders consider relevant to regulating AI risks.

      A study co-led by Cuellar in 2025 contributed to the enactment of California’s SB 53, the first US law specifically aimed at AI safety. Anthropic backed the legislation, which provides protections for AI whistleblowers, mandates reporting on safety standards and incidents from high-revenue developers, and establishes a maximum penalty of one million dollars per violation.

      Cuellar has been a member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust since January, the independent body dedicated to upholding the company’s public benefit mission. He will resign from this position to assume his new role, and the trust is now seeking a replacement for the four-member team.

      This hiring follows a tumultuous year for Anthropic’s government relations. In March, the Pentagon labeled the company a supply-chain risk after it refused to allow its Claude models to be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of US citizens. Anthropic has since filed a lawsuit against the government regarding the blacklisting, which is still ongoing.

      Recently, the Trump administration placed export restrictions on Anthropic’s advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, due to national security concerns. The ban was lifted after approximately three weeks when Anthropic agreed to specific security commitments, highlighting the complexities of its standing in Washington.

      Oren Cass, founder of the conservative think tank American Compass and a friend of Cuellar, remarked that Cuellar would be “open-minded” regarding the Trump administration's views and would seek to understand the sources of any disagreements. Cuellar stated that policymakers are at an “inflection point” concerning AI governance, emphasizing that current decisions will determine whether humanity can realize significant opportunities or confront substantial risks.