# OpenAI's empty top comms job after 9 months

> The company has struggled to fill its chief communications officer role since Hannah Wong left in January, even as crises pile up.
- Title: OpenAI's empty top comms job after 9 months · Fortune
- Summary: The company has struggled to fill its chief communications officer role since Hannah Wong left in January, even as crises pile up. OpenAI has been unable to…
- Keywords: openai, chief communications officer, hannah wong, sam altman, jill hazelbaker, uber, ipo, ai reputation, crisis management, OpenAI's, empty, top
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/09/23/openai-9-month-search-hire-chief-communications-officer-pr-headhunter-ipo
- Author: Emily Forlini
- Read time: 3 min
- Topics: openai, chief communications officer, hannah wong, sam altman, jill hazelbaker, uber, ipo, ai reputation, crisis management
## Wong leaves after nearly five years
OpenAI's chief communications officer Hannah Wong announced her departure in January 2026, saying she had decided it was time to move into her next chapter.

> After nearly five years at OpenAI and a lot of reflection, I've decided it's time for me to step back and move into my next chapter.
## Nine months with no replacement
Wong's role remains empty nine months later, an unusually long vacancy in the fast-moving AI world.
## Crisis after crisis in 2026
OpenAI has faced a controversial Pentagon deal, a lawsuit from Elon Musk, AI agents that hacked Hugging Face, and an Apple lawsuit alleging trade-secrets theft.
## Reputation damage and trust decline
OpenAI's corporate reputation has taken a hit, and public trust in AI is cratering amid the mounting controversies.
## A rare opportunity before IPO
The new chief communications officer will have a chance to claim significant equity before OpenAI goes public. CEO Sam Altman said the company would not IPO before twenty twenty-seven.
## Top candidate Hazelbaker says no
OpenAI's top choice, Jill Hazelbaker of Uber, turned down the role in spring. Hazelbaker was promoted to President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Uber in May.
## Why Hazelbaker declined
Hazelbaker has been at Uber for almost eleven years, makes substantial money, lives on the East Coast with family in Washington DC, and has a strong relationship with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

> She's very mature. She has an awesome relationship with Dara. She makes a f*ckload of money.
## OpenAI brings in headhunters
After internal recruiters hit a wall, OpenAI enlisted executive search firm Daversa Partners this summer to help fill the role. The pool of eligible candidates is relatively small.
## Interim team handles IPO messaging
OpenAI hired Josh King as Vice President of Communications in July to oversee financial communications. The company also retained outside PR firm Brunswick Group to support IPO messaging.
## Reporting structure still uncertain
OpenAI is still deciding whether the chief communications officer should report to president Greg Brockman or sit lower, reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, a role vacant since April.
## Reputation lags competitors badly
OpenAI ranks sixty-eight in Axios Harris's twenty twenty-six poll of most trusted American companies, while Anthropic sits at number fifteen and Nvidia at number four.
## Public wary of AI overall
An August survey from Pew Research found just eight percent of Americans are more excited than concerned about AI, down from eighteen percent in twenty twenty-one.
## Altman: industry failed to communicate
CEO Sam Altman said in a September interview with Bloomberg that the AI industry has done a terrible job explaining how AI benefits ordinary Americans.

> It's terrible.
## Altman frustrated by safety perception
Altman told Fortune he is frustrated that the public may not believe OpenAI prioritizes AI safety over profits, saying the company has done a bad job communicating.

> If you're like 'Oh, OpenAI is not going to pause because they're worried about it costing their business money,' then you very deeply misunderstand us.
## Extinction fears add to pressure
Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon went viral this month after quitting and claiming that the people building AI earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade.

> the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.
## Key takeaway

OpenAI has been unable to fill its chief communications officer role for nine months despite mounting crises, and now faces pressure to hire before going public.