OpenAI hires former Roblox comms lead Eric Porterfield for youth safety and education role
Eric Porterfield has joined OpenAI in a policy communications role focused on youth safety and education, after previously working at Roblox, Meta, and global development organizations. Credit: Eric Porterfield
OpenAI has hired Eric Porterfield, former Senior Director of Policy Communications at Roblox, for a youth safety and education role on its policy communications team.
Porterfield confirmed the move on LinkedIn, one week after announcing his departure from Roblox. His OpenAI profile now lists him in a full-time policy communications role based in San Francisco.
The appointment brings OpenAI a communications executive with experience across child safety, platform transparency, crisis response, and technology policy. Porterfield has previously held roles at Roblox, Meta, the United Nations Foundation, and the American Red Cross.
Porterfield confirms OpenAI appointment
In his LinkedIn post, Porterfield said: “Professional Update: Excited to share that I’ve joined OpenAI, where I’ll be focused on youth safety and education on the policy comms team (working with Liz!).”
He added: “AI is already shaping how young people learn, create, and engage with the world and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help advance thoughtful, responsible approaches that prioritize safety, expand access to educational opportunity, and support informed policies around this technology.”
Porterfield also pointed to examples of young people using ChatGPT, writing: “Here are some examples of how young people are already using ChatGPT to make an impact – like Nayel, Arhan, and Rushil who built Wi-Find to detect disaster survivors through walls and debris using AI and Crystal Yang who is building audio-first learning games for 200,000 students who are visually impaired.”
Roblox departure followed safety and transparency work
Porterfield left Roblox earlier this month after more than two years at the company.
In a separate LinkedIn post marking his departure, Porterfield said he was “incredibly proud” of the work carried out during his time there, including “the introduction of so many additional safeguards (parental controls, age checks, and Roblox Kids & Select accounts) and initiatives (Roblox Teen & Parent councils, economic impact reports, the learning hub and so much more).”
At Roblox, Porterfield was recruited to build and lead the company’s policy communications function during a period of increased regulatory scrutiny around child safety, platform transparency, and the economic impact of immersive digital experiences.
Before joining Roblox, Porterfield held communications roles at Meta, where he worked across integrity, transparency, social impact, and crisis response.
That included communications around Meta’s Content Library and API for researchers, which opened platform data to academic scrutiny.
Earlier in his career, Porterfield spent seven years at the United Nations Foundation, including work connected to the World Health Organization during the Ebola outbreak. He also managed international crisis communications for the American Red Cross across South and Southeast Asia.
