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According to foreign media reports on August 23, OpenAI's strong demand for data protection and lawyers continues. The company hired Idriss Kechida as the company's first global data protection officer this month.

Kechida, who most recently served as deputy general counsel and chief privacy officer at Match Group Inc., confirmed his new position at OpenAI in a message.

The former Baker & McKenzie senior partner is one of more than a dozen lawyers who have joined the generative AI provider’s in-house ranks since the spring.

“I will be advising the company on how to understand the various privacy laws that apply in the various markets in which OpenAI operates and ensuring that we adhere to them,” he said. “This will involve close collaboration with all teams across the organization, including the talented privacy legal team.”

The team is led by Emma Redmond, who was hired a year ago as OpenAI’s chief privacy and data protection lawyer after previously leading that division at financial technology company Stripe Inc.

Kechida said he has known Redmond for years — they both worked in Dublin, a hotspot for EU privacy regulators to scrutinize AI companies’ use of data — and that he will work with Redmond and her team at ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, on common goals.

Kechida said his departure from Match, which he joined nearly eight years ago after a stint at PayPal Holdings Inc., was motivated by a keen interest in tackling the complex and novel privacy challenges posed by the groundbreaking technology. OpenAI’s advances in generative artificial intelligence have worried some tech giants, governments, employees, businesses and academics.

OpenAI experienced a boardroom coup late last year that led to the brief ouster of CEO and co-founder Sam Altman, but he has the support of most of the startup’s legal staff, and Kechida said he is committed to ensuring generative AI benefits everyone.

He said: The company is fully aware that privacy is and will continue to be core to achieving its mission.

A Match spokesperson said Kechida was followed by the departure of the company's new privacy chief, Brandon Kerstens.

Kerstens is a Canadian lawyer who has handled privacy and data protection matters for the Dallas-based company, which owns dating apps such as Hinge, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and Tinder. Match announced its ChatGPT partnership with OpenAI in February.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kechida’s hiring and the hiring of nearly two dozen other lawyers in recent months, including positions outside its legal team.

Last summer, OpenAI’s general counsel, Che Chang, spoke to Bloomberg Law about the company’s plans to expand the size of its in-house legal team, which has grown over the past year.

During this time, OpenAI’s operations have faced new threats—such as lawsuits related to its business model and practices—as well as scrutiny of its trust and safety protocols and use of nondisclosure agreements.

The new legal team members include senior counsel Jeffrey Shih and Alexander Zbrozek, senior director of tax Jay Cha-young Kim and associate counsel Susan Kim, all of whom join San Francisco-based OpenAI from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, a frequent recruiting target.

OpenAI also hired Daniel Cook, deputy general counsel at Akasa Inc., a generative AI agency in the healthcare field, and Mangesh Kulkarni, a business law expert, and Benton Gaffney from ServiceNow Inc. as deputy general counsel for AI policy and regulation, international and competition.

Danielle Bembry Westbrook joined the firm as general counsel in June, having previously served as legal director at video technology company Loom Inc. Ali Buttars, formerly global head of trademark and brand protection at Netflix Inc., also joined as general counsel, and WilmerHale general counsel Shannon Togawa Mercer took on a cybersecurity and privacy role. Galia Amram, a partner at Morrison & Foerster, was hired as deputy general counsel.

Last month, OpenAI hired Kurt Kurzenhauser, a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, as its legal counsel. Previously, OpenAI also hired Alan Hayes, a former international trade consultant at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld who previously worked at Amazon.

OpenAI is also adding lawyers to its staff to fill non-legal positions.

Lindsey Tran is a labor and employment attorney who previously worked at Twitter Inc. and most recently served as global head of employee relations and investigations at Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc., and now serves as global head of employee relations at OpenAI. Tax attorney Stephen Bonovich was hired from Agilent Technologies as vice president of tax.

Chris Lehane, a veteran Washington lawyer and lobbyist, was recently named vice president of public works. Other lawyers joining OpenAI’s policy group include Joshua Lawson, Deborah Im, and Ebele Okobi.