Dan Hendrycks, Elon Musk’s AI security advisor, is taking on the role at Scale AI

According to his own statements, he is now a consultant to the company LinkedIn profile. Hendrycks and Scale AI, which labels data for enterprise customers to train their AI models, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Adding Hendrycks as an advisor gives Scale AI someone with connections across the AI ​​industry. It could also help the company strengthen its ties to the Trump administration.

Scale AI already has a connection to Michael Kratsios, the former chief technology officer in Trump’s first administration and later the company’s chief executive. Kratsios recently announced his departure from Scale AI to join Trump’s presidential transition team.

Meanwhile, Hendrycks is close to Musk, who supported Trump during his campaign and has since been named head of a new government efficiency department. Hendrycks began advising Musk on AI security when he founded xAI in 2023.

As founder and executive director of the nonprofit Center for AI Safety, Hendrycks is a leading advocate of the potential dangers of AI. These risks include malicious actors developing bioweapons, more dangerous cyberattacks, and autonomous AI agents going rogue.

Hendrycks made headlines this summer by playing a major role in drafting California’s SB-1047. The bill should establish safety and regulatory standards for the development and use of advanced AI.

But the proposed legislation sparked fierce opposition from the tech industry, including billionaire investor Marc Andreessen and AI pioneer Fei Fei Li, over its potential to stifle innovation. California Senator Scott Wiener, who sponsored the bill, compared the debate to a “Jets vs. Sharks” feud.

The bill, which passed the California State Assembly and Senate, was ultimately vetoed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.

During negotiations surrounding SB-1047, Hendrycks was criticized for being an investor in Gray Swan AI, a company focused on developing tools to examine risks associated with AI models. These critics claimed he had a conflict of interest because the bill would require affected companies to use audit tools. In response to Hendryck Posted on X that he would part ways with Gray Swan and continue his work as an unpaid consultant.