In a memo, Fidji Simo says she will be on medical leave ‘for the next several weeks.’
In a memo, Fidji Simo says she will be on medical leave ‘for the next several weeks.’
OpenAI is undergoing another round of C-suite changes, according to an internal memo viewed by The Verge.
Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of AGI deployment — who was until recently the company’s CEO of applications — says in the memo that she will be stepping away on medical leave “for the next several weeks” due to a neuroimmune condition. While she’s out, OpenAI president Greg Brockman will be in charge of product, including leading OpenAI’s super app efforts. On the business side, CSO Jason Kwon, CFO Sarah Friar, and CRO Denise Dresser will take charge.
OpenAI’s CMO, Kate Rouch, has also decided to step down in order to focus on her health, according to Simo. Gary Briggs will temporarily step in to replace Rouch, reporting to Kwon, and the two of them, along with Rouch, will lead the search for her replacement. Rouch “plans to return to a different, more narrowly scoped role when her health allows,” Simo says.
Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s COO, has also decided to step down from his role and transition into a new one “focused on special projects” and reporting to CEO Sam Altman, per the memo. Dresser will step in to take over much of his work, reporting to Simo, but two areas that Lightcap oversaw, government and “OpenAI for Countries,” will move into OpenAI’s strategy organization instead.
The news comes after a few months of public relations setbacks for the company. It sparked controversy both internally and externally after signing on to new terms of use with the Pentagon, and it had to drop Sora, its AI video generation tool, in order to devote compute and other resources to catching up with competitors in enterprise and coding tools. OpenAI’s chief communications officer, Hannah Wong, departed her post in January.
Just yesterday, OpenAI also announced it was purchasing viral online talk show TBPN, and Simo wrote in a memo about that announcement that the company wants to “help create a space for a real, constructive conversation about the changes AI creates.”
In a statement to The Verge, OpenAI spokesperson Elana Widmann said, “We have a strong leadership team focused on our biggest priorities: advancing frontier research, growing our global user base of nearly 1 billion users, and powering enterprise use cases. We’re well-positioned to keep executing with continuity and momentum.”
Here is the full text of Simo’s memo:
Hi team,
I hope you are all having a great break. I wanted to share three updates in the AGI Deployment org with you today.
First, Brad has decided to transition into a new role focused on special projects, including our DeployCo effort, reporting to Sam. He’s been our go-to for complex deals and investments across the company, and this shift allows him to focus all his energy there. Thank you so much, Brad, for everything you’ve done as COO. We’re all deeply grateful for what you’ve built and driven.
Denise will step in to take over Brad’s scope, with the exception of our government and OpenAI for Countries work, which will be brought into our Strategy org. Denise will report directly to me. Denise has decades of enterprise experience, including several senior roles at Salesforce, most recently as CEO of Slack. She is the perfect person to lead all of our commercial teams into the next chapter. Please join me in congratulating Denise on her new role; I couldn’t be more excited to partner even more closely with her.
Second, Kate has decided to step down as CMO to focus on her cancer recovery, and plans to return to a different, more narrowly scoped role when her health allows. Gary will lead Marketing until we hire a new CMO, and will report to Jason. Gary and Jason will lead the search for Kate’s replacement, with Kate’s help while she’s on leave. We are so grateful to Kate for having built up an amazing marketing team in record time and having made our brands and products shine on the biggest stages like the Super Bowl. While we will miss her brilliance leading marketing, and while it was an agonizing decision for her, I am so glad that she’s focusing on her health. Please join me in sending her all the healing vibes.
Third, a personal update. I have to take medical leave for the next several weeks. I have done everything possible to try to avoid it, but sadly my body isn’t cooperating.
As I shared when I joined, I had a relapse of my neuroimmune condition a few weeks before starting the job. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster since, and the last month has been particularly rough health-wise. For my entire time here, I’ve postponed medical tests and new therapies to stay completely focused on the job and not miss a single day of work. I took time off for the first time two weeks before the break for some medical tests, and it’s now clear that I’ve pushed a little too far and I really need to try new interventions to stabilize my health.
The timing is maddening because we have such an exciting roadmap ahead that the team is executing on, and I hate to miss even a minute of it. But the company is in great hands; we have an excellent leadership team that’s ready to step up. While I’m out, Greg will handle product; we have a great strategy to execute on and everyone is focused on this. On the business side, Jason, Sarah, and Denise will hold down the fort. Really grateful to them for giving me the space to get back on my feet.
I can’t wait to be back in the arena with you all soon.
Much love to you all.
