Fidji Simo Moves to Part-Time Adviser Role at OpenAI

Fidji Simo announced on Thursday that she is stepping down from her full-time role as CEO of Applications at OpenAI and will continue as a part-time adviser. In a staff note, she stated that her medical leave for a relapse of a neuroimmune condition has proven longer and harder than expected.

Simo joined OpenAI in May 2025 as CEO of Applications, a position created to consolidate business and product operations with direct reporting to Sam Altman. After her appointment, COO Brad Lightcap, CFO Sarah Friar, and CPO Kevin Weil reported to her while Altman focused on research, compute, and safety. She joined the company's board of directors in 2024.

The announcement came the same day OpenAI launched the GPT-5.6 family of models and a new agent called ChatGPT Work designed to handle multistep office tasks. OpenAI was most recently assigned an $852 billion valuation.

In April 2025, the company shortened its vesting cliff from 12 months to six months, then eliminated the cliff for new hires in December. Simo described the equity policy change as a way to let employees take risks without fear of losing equity if let go early. The company was projected to spend $6 billion on stock-based compensation in 2025.

Simo previously served as CEO of Instacart since 2021, leading the company through its 2023 IPO, and spent over a decade at Meta, including running the Facebook app. She first disclosed her health issues in April when she announced medical leave.

Sam Altman posted on X that he was really sad about this and very grateful for all fidji has done for openai, and even grateful for her friendship and who she is as a person. we all wish her the best for a speedy recovery.