Irish privacy guru takes time out from bonkers eye-scanning tech
Irish privacy guru takes time out from bonkers eye-scanning tech
Publish Date: 2026-01-31 12:36:00
Source Domain: www.thetimes.com
Damien Kieran, who testified in front of the US Senate during his time as chief privacy officer at Twitter (now X), is calling a bit of a time out.
Kieran left the social media platform after Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover in 2022. The former Googler moved to BeReal, a French social media firm, holding the legal tiller and helping steer it through its €500 million sale to Voodoo in 2024. Kieran also hooked up with Sam Altman, the OpenAI founder, and his wildly innovative or supremely bonkers Tools for Humanity business.
Tools of Humanity is behind the Orb, a digital device that scans people’s eyes to make sure that they are human. As one of the most accomplished executives in the privacy and associated regulatory space, Kieran was brought in to keep the firm on the right side of good. Tools for Humanity, which is run by Alex Blania, is developing a global digital identity system that will verify who is actually human in an increasingly AI-dominated world.
Having sprinted from Twitter to BeReal to Tools for Humanity, Kieran is taking a break. He is training for an Ironman triathlon, completing his pilot’s licence and getting back to his motorbikes. His brother, Cillian, is chief executive of Ethyca, a New York-based data privacy and AI governance software company that raised $10 million just over a year ago. Now that’s what you call tech bros.
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