OpenAI appoints John Buckley to child safety and youth wellbeing role

The former LEGO Group and Google specialist joins OpenAI alongside Brian Fishman, who will focus on violence prevention and the manipulation of political systems.

John Buckley has joined OpenAI’s Product Policy team to lead child safety policy and support its work involving young people and wellbeing

OpenAI has appointed John Buckley to lead child safety policy and support its work on youth and wellbeing, as the artificial intelligence company adds two specialists to its Product Policy team.

Buckley joins OpenAI alongside Brian Fishman, who will focus on preventing the misuse of AI to enable violence and manipulate political systems. OpenAI Global Affairs announced both appointments this week.

The appointments add experience from the LEGO Group, Google, YouTube, Meta, Cinder, and counterterrorism policy to OpenAI’s work on product safeguards and AI governance.

Buckley has spent approximately 15 years working in child protection, online safety, youth policy, and responses to technology-enabled harm. Fishman joins after stepping back from the daily management of trust and safety technology business Cinder.

Both have started their roles at OpenAI.

Buckley takes child safety and youth wellbeing brief

Buckley joins OpenAI from the LEGO Group, where he worked as Director and Head of Child Rights and Safety.

His new remit covers child safety policy and support for OpenAI’s wider work involving young people and wellbeing. Buckley said the role would include how AI products are designed with safety in mind, how organizations respond when harm occurs, and how preventative systems are developed.

Writing on LinkedIn, Buckley said: "Over the past 15 years, I've spent time with new technologies where children or those who may harm children adopt early - such as livestream, scaled encrypted communications, and more recently generative AI. My work has focused on the key pillars of (a) how to build with safety and wellbeing in mind (b) how to respond effectively to where harm has occurred and (c) how to build preventative programming and response."

He added: "With this in mind, one of the most important places to work right now for children and vulnerable people to work is AI. I’ll be taking on the challenge and responsibility of child safety policy OpenAI. This will be one of the most critically important roles of my career. As well as Child Safety, I’ll be supporting talented product policy experts on Wellbeing and Youth."

Buckley pointed to OpenAI’s Child Safety Blueprint, Under 18 Principles in the Model Spec, parental controls, and age-appropriate content protections for linked teen accounts as areas of existing work.

He also referenced OpenAI’s work on wellbeing and mental health, including Trusted Contact and measures designed to connect users with real-world support during serious situations.

Experience spans Google, YouTube, Meta, and child protection services

Before joining the LEGO Group, Buckley led child safety policy work at Google and held responsibility for child safety, YouTube Kids, and livestream policy enforcement across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at YouTube.

His work has also included the prevention of child sexual abuse, non-consensual intimate imagery, child safety investigations, and policy enforcement at Facebook and Instagram.

Earlier roles included work with Ireland’s youth information service SpunOut.ie, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and Childline. Buckley also served on a ministerial advisory committee to the Irish Government on youth work.

OpenAI Global Affairs said Buckley would lead child safety policy and support the organization’s youth and wellbeing work as part of the Product Policy team.

His appointment gives OpenAI a specialist with experience across technology product policy, online abuse investigations, youth services, and child rights.

Fishman joins with violence prevention and political integrity remit

Brian Fishman has joined the same Product Policy team to work on the misuse of AI in violence and political systems.

Fishman co-founded Cinder and served as its Chief Strategy Officer. He recently stepped away from Cinder’s day-to-day operations but remains on the trust and safety company’s board.

Writing on LinkedIn, Fishman said: "I have joined OpenAI to support the already impressive team working to prevent the abuse of AI to enable violence and the manipulation of political systems."

Before Cinder, Fishman spent more than five years at Facebook as Senior Director, Counterterrorism, Dangerous Organizations, and Content Policy. His LinkedIn profile states that he led a cross-functional program involving approximately 300 specialists working on terrorism and hate organizations.

Fishman also worked at Palantir Technologies on emergency response and disaster relief and remains a Senior Fellow at New America. He is the author of "The Master Plan: ISIS, al Qaeda, and the Jihadi Strategy for Final Victory."

He said his OpenAI work would involve teams across policy, safety, and investigations. Buckley and Fishman also said they expected to collaborate on policy issues spanning their respective areas.