Rishi Sunak hired by Microsoft and Anthropic as paid advisor
Rishi Sunak has taken on part-time senior advisor roles at tech giant Microsoft and AI start-up Anthropic.
The former prime minister was told by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), an independent watchdog that oversees the activities of former government figures, that he should not lobby ministers on behalf of companies.
The watchdog said Sunak, who remains MP for Richmond and Northallerton, would donate payments for the works to a charity he recently set up.
Sunak has made technology regulation a key priority during his premiership, convening an AI security summit in 2023.
Letters of recommendation sent by Acoba to Sunak and published on Thursday said his role at Microsoft was to provide “high-level strategic perspectives” on geopolitical trends.
The watchdog said Sunak had been briefed that his advisory role at Anthropic, an artificial intelligence firm looking to compete with the likes of OpenAI, Google and Meta, would be “akin to working as an internal think tank”.
Sunak has been told not to advise on bidding for UK contracts or lobby the government for two years from his last day in the ministry.
It was previously confirmed that Sunak would also serve in the two technical roles. Serving as a paid advisor to Goldman Sachs bankWhere he previously worked between 2001-2004.
There was speculation that Sunak, who was ranked 10th between October 2022 and July 2024, would leave the House of Commons shortly after the election and take up a position in Silicon Valley.
He previously lived in California, where he still has a home, and had a US visa until 2021.
But Sunak vowed to spend more time in the constituency, which he called “the most beautiful place in the world” during questions from his last prime minister.
“If anyone needs me I’ll be in Yorkshire,” he said.
Earlier this year he set up the Richmond Project, a charity that will focus on tackling numeracy problems, another area in which he made his voice heard while in Downing Street.
