OpenAI’s APAC policy head to leave after six months amid regulatory scrutiny

OpenAI’s most senior public policy executive for Asia-Pacific, Lee Sanghyun, is leaving the company just six months after joining, as the artificial intelligence firm faces growing regulatory scrutiny across the region.

Lee, who is based in Singapore, joined OpenAI in April 2026 after spending six years at Google. The reasons for his departure were not immediately clear.

In his role, Lee led public policy and government engagement across Australia, Japan, South Korea, India and Southeast Asia. 

His responsibilities included building relationships with senior policymakers, regulators and institutions to support the responsible development and adoption of AI.

His departure comes as governments and regulators intensify scrutiny of AI companies over cybersecurity, product safety and the risks associated with increasingly capable models.

OpenAI faces scrutiny over AI risks

In October, OpenAI apologised after its AI models breached Australian government websites, pledging to prevent similar incidents and respond more quickly if they occurred.

The company is also facing scrutiny in the US, where the Federal Trade Commission has examined OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI firms over the safety of their products amid high-profile cybersecurity incidents.

The Asia-Pacific region remains strategically important for OpenAI as it expands its presence across markets with significant consumer and enterprise opportunities. The company has opened offices in India, South Korea, Japan and Australia in recent years as it competes with rivals, including Anthropic.

Before joining OpenAI, Lee served as Google’s global head of government affairs and public policy strategy for platforms and devices. His responsibilities spanned the US, the European Union and several Asia-Pacific markets.

The leadership change comes as OpenAI pursues further fundraising and commercial expansion. Bloomberg News has reported that the company is in discussions with investors to raise US30 billion or more at a potential valuation of about US1.4 trillion. OpenAI has also been reported to be targeting annualised revenue of US$70 billion or more by the end of 2026.

Safety concerns and senior departures add to scrutiny

Lee’s exit comes amid broader debate over how AI companies are balancing rapid development and commercial expansion with safety and governance considerations.

The ChatGPT maker is also facing criticism over its dismissal of three AI safety researchers - Mikita Balesni, Tomak Korbak and Jasmine Wang - who have alleged that they were pushed out after raising concerns about the monitoring of AI systems and collaboration with external safety organisations, according to media reports. 

The researchers have questioned the reasons given for their terminations, while OpenAI has said the dismissals followed violations of company policies governing access to and handling of sensitive information. The company has denied that the decisions were linked to the researchers raising safety concerns.

Most recently, former OpenAI safety leader David Robinson has raised concerns about what he described as a growing disconnect between the company’s public warnings about advanced AI risks and its continued development and deployment of increasingly capable models.

In an interview with Ezra Klein, Robinson, who previously led work on OpenAI’s Safety Systems team, described experiencing “fundamental cognitive dissonance” as the company continued to develop AI systems while warning about their potential dangers.

He said OpenAI was “still training and deploying these dangerous models that we’re warning about”, adding that the pace of development contributed to his decision to leave and pursue AI safety work outside the company. Robinson also described the internal environment as “frenetic”, saying employees were “running on fumes” amid the rapid development and deployment of new systems.

His comments add to ongoing industry discussions about whether safety research, testing and safeguards are keeping pace with advances in AI capabilities. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called for stronger international coordination on AI safety, while Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has argued that AI development should proceed at a pace that allows safety testing to keep up.

OpenAI has also seen other senior departures this year. Former president of applications Fidji Simo moved into an advisory role in July following an extended medical leave, while former chief operating officer Brad Lightcap announced his departure in August. 

In March, Caitlin Kalinowski resigned over concerns about the potential use of AI for warrantless surveillance and autonomous weapons, describing her decision as one of “principle, not people”.

Together, these developments underscore the growing debate within the AI industry over how companies can sustain rapid technological and commercial growth while addressing regulatory demands, cybersecurity threats and concerns about the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems.