Civil Rights Attorney Takes Helm of eBay Founder’s AI Philanthropy Group

Michele Jawando, a civil rights attorney and former Google executive, will become CEO of Pierre Omidyar's philanthropic organization next month. The group focuses on making artificial intelligence development more inclusive and ensuring diverse voices help shape AI's future.

NEW YORK — Pierre Omidyar’s charitable foundation, dedicated to broadening participation in the digital economy’s benefits, will welcome new leadership next month.

Michele Jawando will step into the CEO role at Omidyar Network, the progressive organization announced Wednesday. The group combines traditional charitable giving with profit-driven impact investing. Jawando brings experience as both a civil rights attorney and former Google executive who oversaw public policy partnerships at the tech giant. She’ll now guide one of the most well-funded technology organizations working to challenge Silicon Valley’s dominance over how artificial intelligence gets built, implemented and governed.

“Our focus will be making sure that there is a much more diverse set of views and people and coalitions and voices shaping the moments, the opportunities and the rules for the AI era,” Jawando said.

“I just want people to feel agency and power in this moment,” she added. “I hate the fact that most people feel like this technology is happening to them.”

Charitable organizations typically can’t match the financial resources and political influence of AI corporations worth hundreds of billions of dollars that have gained favorable treatment under President Donald Trump’s administration. This week highlighted those concerns as the Trump administration took action against Anthropic after the AI company declined to grant the government unlimited military access to its technology.

The Anthropic situation reinforces Jawando’s belief that a small group of corporations shouldn’t control the boundaries for what she describes as “really powerful super tools.” Omidyar Network has recently narrowed its mission to address what leadership viewed as philanthropy’s insufficient involvement with AI’s rapidly changing environment, assembling a $30 million generative AI investment portfolio over recent years.

Recognizing the “David and Goliath kind of asymmetry” in available resources, Jawando explained her mission involves creating connections throughout the philanthropic sector to amplify workers’ viewpoints.

“The responsible and safe use of AI shouldn’t be just one company’s mantra,” Jawando said. “It’s not that some companies are too responsible and others aren’t. It’s just that we don’t have a public governance framework.”

Departing Omidyar Network CEO Mike Kubzansky acknowledged that charitable organizations will always face funding disadvantages against major technology companies and noted the sector’s reputation for poor collaboration.

However, he emphasized Jawando’s leadership role in a philanthropic alliance dedicating $500 million toward AI development that serves public interests. Kubzansky credited his replacement with recruiting multiple donors who hadn’t previously engaged significantly in AI issues, including the Doris Duke Foundation and Lumina Foundation.

“She rarely jumps to the oppositional card first,” he said. “She finds new partners for us and she brings people along.”

Describing herself as someone who builds connections, Jawando explained that Omidyar Network will intensify efforts to engage underrepresented communities, shape state-level legislation and fund research that applies this “marvelous technology” to benefit ordinary citizens.

This approach includes collaborating with advocacy organizations like the Model Alliance, which successfully promoted recently enacted New York legislation requiring fashion industry workers’ permission before creating digital copies of their appearances. The organization seeks to empower marginalized groups by backing leaders such as Fallon Wilson, co-founder of #BlackTechFutures Research Institute, who partners with historically Black colleges and African American religious institutions on AI education.

Omidyar Network plans to continue backing technology regulation supporters despite Trump’s executive action limiting state AI oversight measures. With growing public criticism of power-intensive data centers that continue expanding in scale and quantity, Jawando said the organization wants to find examples of responsible data center operations that factor in elements like carbon neutrality and community involvement. The group also finances AI researchers focused on advancing healthcare applications rather than corporate services.

“I think we have the people. I think we have the will. I think we have the creativity,” she said. “In a way that, if you only are forced to think about shareholders every three months, you start to lower and really narrow the window of your ambition.”