Fidji Simo, one of OpenAI's most senior executives, is leaving her full-time role at the company to focus on her health. According to Reuters, Simo said on Thursday, July 9, that she will step down and move to a part-time advisory position at the ChatGPT maker, following a three-month medical leave.
Simo explained that the leave made clear her recovery would take far longer and be more complex than she had expected. Several outlets, including Livemint and yourstory, report that she has been managing a chronic neuroimmune condition; WION identifies it as POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which flared severely. In her message to staff, quoted by the Times of India, she said she had decided to step down and shared the news with the OpenAI team.
Her exact title has been described in different ways across coverage — Reuters, in a correction, called her OpenAI's "CEO of AGI deployment," while other reports refer to her as CEO of Applications, chief of product, or the company's No. 2 executive. Whatever the label, she led OpenAI's product and commercial operations and helped scale ChatGPT and the company's consumer applications.
Simo also voiced regret about not slowing down sooner. As Financial Express and others reported, she said she wished she had listened to Mark Zuckerberg's earlier advice to play the long game and take the medical leave offered to her. Going forward, she plans to focus on her recovery and on AI's role in healthcare.
Axios notes that her departure removes one of OpenAI's highest-profile leaders. Why it matters: the exit creates a leadership gap at a pivotal moment, as OpenAI pushes to make ChatGPT profitable and, per Stocktwits, eyes a potential IPO.