Writing on X about his appointment at OpenAI, Osborne said: ‘It’s a privilege to be going to work for OpenAI as managing director and head of OpenAI for countries, based here in London.’

The new role focuses on ‘helping societies around the world share the opportunity this powerful technology brings,’ Osborne said.

OpenAI for Countries was set up in May 2025 to support the AI giant’s Stargate project, the name for its huge investment in AI infrastructure in the US. Now OpenAI is working with other governments beyond the US create strategic partnerships to ‘provide a clear alternative to authoritarian versions of AI’ and ensure the ‘prevention of government use of AI to amass control’.

It will also work with countries to ‘help build in-country data center capacity and provide customised ChatGPT to citizens’.

Osborne is not the first former British politician to be headhunted by the tech sector, with former deputy PM and LibDem leader Nick Clegg going to Facebook in 2018 when he stepped down from politics, becoming vice president of global affairs and communications at the social media giant now known as Meta.

Just this October former PM Rishi Sunak took up an advisory role at Anthropic, the Microsoft backed AI start-up.

Osborne will be stepping down as senior managing director at Evercore, the investment banking advisory firm, in the new year to take up the OpenAI post. Recently, he was understood to be on the shortlist for the influential role of group chair at global banking giant HSBC but the role went to Brendan Nelson, a bank insider and member of the board.

In his X post, Osborne was enthusiastic about the new job, saying OpenAI had ‘exceptionally impressive leaders and that they care very deeply about their mission to ensure the power of artificial intelligence is developed responsibly’.

This was a big coup for OpenAI with Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer at OpenAI, saying: ‘I’ve spent enough time in government to know that former chancellors of the exchequer don’t step into new roles lightly.

‘In his new role, George will help to expand existing partnerships and build new ones. The demand is clearly their representatives from more than 30 governments have already reached out to explore joining OpenAI for countries.’

The new position is a globally strategic role for Osborne and marks a move away from his recent roles in the City of London. After leaving the Treasury in 2017, Osborne has spent much of his time in the City, apart from three years as editor of the Evening Standard. He has had advisory roles at BlackRock and investment company 9Yards Capital, and in 2021, became a partner at investment bank Robey Warshaw, as well as chair of the British Museum.

Additional reporting by Sara White