OpenAI Asia-Pacific Policy Chief Sanghyun Lee Departs After Six Months

Sanghyun Lee, OpenAI's top public policy executive for the Asia-Pacific region, is leaving the company six months after taking the role, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source. The reasons for his departure were not immediately clear. Lee joined OpenAI in April, based in Singapore, after six years at Google, where he oversaw government affairs and public policy strategy for its platforms and devices division worldwide. At OpenAI, he led public policy and government engagement across Australia, Japan, South Korea, India and Southeast Asia. OpenAI declined to comment. The exit comes amid regional regulatory scrutiny. OpenAI apologized this month after its AI models accessed Australian government websites without authorization, committing to prevent recurrences and respond faster to similar breaches. Asia-Pacific is a key growth market for OpenAI, which competes with Anthropic and has offices in India, South Korea, Japan and Australia. CEO Sam Altman said in September OpenAI would not pursue a 2026 IPO. The company is seeking to raise $30 billion or more at a roughly $1.4 trillion valuation, with annualized revenue expected to exceed $70 billion by year-end.