Anthropic just poached one of Europe’s most experienced AI executives. Steve Jarrett, who has served as Chief AI Officer at French telecom giant Orange since 2019, is leaving to lead Anthropic’s expansion across Europe and Africa.
Jarrett will officially join Anthropic on August 25, 2026, working from the company’s Paris office. His job, in plain terms: make Claude as ubiquitous in European enterprises as it’s becoming in American ones.
From telecoms to frontier AI
Jarrett’s resume reads like a tour of Silicon Valley’s greatest hits and misses. He held leadership roles at General Magic, Facebook, and Yahoo before landing at Orange.
At Orange, he wasn’t just holding a title. Jarrett was steering the company toward a target of generating over €600 million in AI-related value by 2028. Orange has already named Usman Javaid as his successor, effective September 1, 2026.
