CEO of OpenAI AGI implementation Fidji Simo leaves his full-time job at the company and becomes a part-time advisor. The decision comes after Simo took a month-long medical leave due to a worsening neuroimmune disease.
“Three months ago I had to go on sick leave after a serious exacerbation of a chronic disease that I have been living with for seven years,” Simo wrote in his statement. post Thursday,
Simo joined OpenAI’s board in March 2024. The following year, CEO Sam Altman hired her to take over its product and business organizations so he could focus on research and building out the company’s data center. Previously, Simo was CEO of Instacart and head of Facebook apps at Meta.
Shortly before starting at OpenAI, Simo experienced a significant relapse. In 2019, she was diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. “Throughout my time here, I have put off medical tests and new therapies to focus entirely on my work and not miss a single day of work,” she told OpenAI employees in an April memo announcing her ephemeral departure. “It’s now clear that I’ve gone a little too far and I really need to try new treatments to stabilize my health.”
News of Simo’s medical leave comes after a larger leadership shake-up that saw Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s former chief operating officer, move into a role overseeing special projects. OpenAI CEO and co-founder Greg Brockman took over OpenAI’s product strategy. In the months since Simo left OpenAI, the company has further reorganized its product teams, positioning Thibault Sottiaux as head of the company’s key products, including ChatGPT.
OpenAI is trying to focus on a few key products ahead of its planned public offering in 2027. The company is apparently whose target is a valuation of $1 trillion. As part of this focus strategy, OpenAI brought together teams working on ChatGPT, the company’s AI-powered browser, and its AI coding agent to create a “super app.” The company also closed long-distance plants such as Sora.
Earlier on Thursday, OpenAI unveiled the biggest update to its ChatGPT product since its release. The company launched an AI agent in ChatGPT that can take actions on behalf of users, transfer local files and write code, and redesigned the look of its desktop application. With the updated product, OpenAI hopes to provide ChatGPT users with some features that were previously constrained to Codex, such as the ability to create custom software designs using artificial intelligence.