The Center for Humane Technology, the nonprofit cofounded by Tristan Harris and known for the documentary The Social Dilemma, is laying off about half of its 16 non-founder employees. The nine departures include executive director Julie Guirado and senior director of strategy Camille Carlton. The group is ending its policy research and litigation work to focus on what its board calls "founder-led" projects, including public education, targeted briefings, and private coordination.
The restructuring comes shortly after the center scored major courtroom victories against social media companies, using research that argued platforms were deliberately designed to keep children engaged. According to 16 former workers, internal debates over direction had been brewing for years, and the board concluded that operating as both a Harris-fronted advocacy group and a policy think tank had stretched the organization too thin. Board chair Premal Shah said the current moment of accelerated AI risk demands a single strategy, choosing what the group does best.
The shift toward Harris's public advocacy on AI dangers has raised concerns among former employees that resources may be diverted from issues such as AI's impact on democracy and civil liberties. Gail Barnes, an early social media adviser to the center, said the board is dropping work that was meant to convert Harris's fame into durable institutional pressure. She framed the choice as whether the binding constraint on AI is that people have not heard the argument or that the argument lacks institutional teeth, with CHT picking the first. The center recently helped organize a congressional hearing on chatbot risks and advised on lawsuits against AI labs, including a case filed against OpenAI by the parents of a teenager who died by suicide after interacting with ChatGPT.}