Anthropic has appointed Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar as its first chief global affairs officer, the company announced Tuesday, tasking the former California Supreme Court justice and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace president with navigating a turbulent relationship with the U.S. government and expanding the Claude developer's international footprint.
Cuéllar, who goes by Tino, will report to Anthropic President Daniela Amodei and will be based at the startup's San Francisco headquarters, a company spokesperson said. His responsibilities will include managing relationships with the U.S. government and the many countries where Anthropic is expanding globally.
The hire comes at a fraught moment for the company. A high-profile standoff over military red lines led the Pentagon to blacklist Anthropic's technology earlier this year, a designation the company is challenging in court. More recently, the Trump administration issued an export control directive that temporarily banned Anthropic from selling its Mythos 5 and Fable 5 AI models to foreign customers on national security grounds.
Anthropic's selection of Cuéllar reflects a deliberate choice for a consensus builder with broad government experience and AI expertise, the spokesperson said. Cuéllar previously served as a special assistant in former President Barack Obama's White House and is now tasked with finding common ground with President Donald Trump's Republican administration.
Oren Cass, founder of the conservative think tank American Compass, told Reuters that the pragmatic and progressive Cuéllar would be "open-minded" to the Trump administration's positions and eager to find the root of any disagreement. "His approach will be one that provokes good deliberative policymaking with the administration," said Cass, who described Cuéllar as a friend since the two began convening bipartisan lunch discussions several years ago.
Since January, Cuéllar had served on Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust, the independent four-person body that exists to hold the startup accountable to its public benefit mission. He is stepping down from that role to join the company, and the trust is seeking a successor.
His tenure leading the Carnegie Endowment included co-chairing a task force on U.S. national security and nuclear proliferation — an area of growing relevance as some AI industry leaders have looked to nuclear arms control frameworks as a model for managing the technology's risks.
Cuéllar also has direct legislative experience in AI governance. A 2025 study he co-led informed the passage of California's SB 53, a law that protects AI whistleblowers, requires high-revenue developers to report on standards and incidents, and carries a maximum fine of $1 million per violation. Anthropic endorsed the bill.
In a statement, Cuéllar said policymakers were realizing that AI's development and governance had reached an "inflection point." "The choices we make today will determine whether humanity can harness extraordinary possibilities to advance science and improve lives across the world or face enormous risk and growing inequality," he said. The company declined to make him available for an interview.
The appointment signals that Anthropic views dedicated government affairs infrastructure as essential as it scales — reinforcing that the policy and regulatory environment surrounding advanced AI models is increasingly shaping corporate strategy alongside technical development.
Disclaimer