Riley Walz, Silicon Valley’s Jester, Is Coming to OpenAI

Riley Walz, a software engineer known for his online antics, is set to join OpenAI to explore and develop innovative methods for human interaction with AI, according to WIRED. An OpenAI representative has confirmed this addition to their team.

Walz has earned a reputation as the jester of Silicon Valley, crafting a series of viral web projects that serve as social commentary. His latest venture, Jmail, allows users to search through Jeffrey Epstein’s emails as though they are accessing his personal Gmail account. Another initiative, Find My Parking Cops, utilized publicly available data to deconstruct San Francisco’s parking ticket system, enabling users to see where each parking enforcement officer last issued a ticket.

Walz’s talent for creating unique web experiences will be leveraged at OAI Labs, a relatively new team directed by research leader Joanne Jang. Although the team has been tight-lipped about their current projects, they are focused on “inventing and prototyping new interfaces for how people collaborate with AI,” as stated by Jang.

Over the past few years, OpenAI has been in competition with Google and Anthropic to develop engaging ways for users to interact with its AI models. While ChatGPT has gained immense popularity, reaching more than 800 million users weekly, the company is looking to new interfaces to enhance these experiences. This initiative comes as millions of developers have begun using coding agents like Claude Code as their primary means of accessing AI models. With new hires such as Walz, OpenAI aims to stay ahead of the curve in AI product innovation.

Walz’s online projects have occasionally sparked controversy. The Find My Parking Cops website was shut down just four hours after launch when San Francisco city officials terminated the live data feed it depended on. A representative from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency stated that the tool was dismantled to ensure “employees can perform their jobs safely and without disruption.”

However, city officials aren’t the only ones who have challenged him. Following the fatal shooting of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York City, where authorities reported that the suspect had escaped on a CitiBike, Walz attempted to analyze previously collected trip data to assist in the investigation. He recounted to The New York Times that he faced backlash online, being labeled a “bootlicker” for offering help to law enforcement and receiving threats to his safety.