Center for Humane Technology to Lay Off Half Its Staff and End Policy Research

The organization co-founded by former Google product manager Tristan Harris will shift its focus to a founder-led strategy centered on public education, AI risks and private-sector coordination.

Center for Humane Technology (CHT), an online safety organization co-founded by former Google product manager Tristan Harris and featured in the hit documentary The Social Dilemma, will lay off about half of its 16 employees, excluding its founders, a former staffer told WIRED.

The organization will end its policy research and litigation activities and instead focus on what it calls a “founder-led” project.

Center for Humane Technology cuts staff after court victories

The nine departures include executive director Julie Gillard and senior director of strategy Camille Carleton. They come shortly after the center won a series of major court victories against social media companies.

The litigation built on the organization’s research alleging that social media platforms are intentionally designed to keep children glued to their screens.

Despite those successes, internal debate had reportedly continued for years over the organization’s direction, according to 16 former employees. Most spoke to WIRED earlier this year on condition of anonymity, citing concerns about professional repercussions.

CHT will focus on founder-led initiatives and AI risks

CHT’s board ultimately decided that operating both as an advocacy organization led by Harris and as a policy-focused think tank was too limiting.

Going forward, the organization will focus on initiatives led by its founders, including “public education, targeted information sessions, and private sector coordination.” The board said the strategy will build on CHT’s success in “reaching broad audiences and engaging influential decision-makers,” as it announced last week.

The board added that functions such as litigation support and the evaluation of AI tools will be eliminated, but it did not provide an exact number of layoffs.

“This moment of accelerating AI risk requires us to focus on one strategy, and we have chosen to focus on what we have always done best to help us meet this moment,” Premal Shah, chairman of the board, said in a statement to WIRED.

Tristan Harris warns of the risks of advanced AI

In recent years, Harris has joined a growing number of voices warning about the risks posed by advanced artificial intelligence. He has warned that an “AI takeover” could occur if software evades human control.

“We must act now before it is too late,” Harris said to NBC News last month.

The center encouraged people to sign a major petition calling for a moratorium on AI development and helped organize a congressional hearing about the dangers of chatbots.

Harris has also advised on lawsuits and investigations involving AI companies’ design choices, including an ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI by the parents of a teenage boy who died by suicide after interacting with ChatGPT.

He also appeared in a documentary released on Netflix last month, AI Documentary, which urges viewers to demand congressional intervention to protect the public from technology-related risks.