Center for Humane Technology Lays Off Half Its Staff, Shifts to Founder-Led Model
The Center for Humane Technology (CHT), established in 2017 with a budget of $6 million and co-founded by Tristan Harris, is set to reduce its workforce by approximately 50%, affecting eight of its 16 non-founder staff members, including executive director Julie Guirado and senior director Camille Carlton. The organization will discontinue its policy research and litigation efforts to concentrate on 'founder-led' initiatives. This shift comes after recent legal successes against social media firms. Ongoing internal discussions revealed that balancing advocacy and think tank roles was not viable. There are rising concerns that this change may divert resources from tackling AI's influence on democracy.
Key facts
- The Center for Humane Technology is laying off about half of its 16 non-founder employees, including executive director Julie Guirado and senior director of strategy Camille Carlton.
- The organization is ending policy research and litigation work to focus on 'founder-led' projects such as public education, targeted briefings, and private coordination.
- The layoffs follow major courtroom victories against social media companies, with lawsuits drawing on CHT's research about platforms designed to keep kids glued to screens.
- Board chair Premal Shah stated the shift is necessary to meet the moment of accelerated AI risk.
- CHT was founded in 2017 by Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin, and Randy Fernando, and has an annual budget of roughly $6 million.
- Harris has warned of a potential 'AI takeover' and starred in the Netflix documentary The AI Doc.
- Internal debates over direction had been brewing for years, and former employees describe a 'frenetic' culture and clashes over focus.
- In 2021, state attorneys general opened investigations into Meta and later sued; this year Meta agreed to settle some lawsuits for billions.
Entities
Artists
- Tristan Harris
- Julie Guirado
- Camille Carlton
- Premal Shah
- Gail Barnes
- Aza Raskin
- Randy Fernando
Institutions
- Center for Humane Technology
- WIRED
- Netflix
- NBC News
- OpenAI
- Meta
- Congress
Locations
- Silicon Valley
- United States