OpenAI COO shifts out of role, AGI CEO taking medical leave

Synopsis

OpenAI faces major leadership changes as Brad Lightcap moves roles, Denise Dresser takes duties, and Kate Rouch and Fidji Simo go on health leave. The company prepares for a possible IPO, expands revenue efforts like ads, and relies on executives to maintain continuity, growth, and progress during a pivotal period.

OpenAI’s chief operating officer is shifting into a new role and two other top executives are going on leave due to health reasons, marking a major change to its executive bench ahead of a potential Wall Street debut as soon as this year.

Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s longtime COO, will now lead special projects and report directly to chief executive officer Sam Altman, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg. One of his main efforts will be overseeing OpenAI’s push to sell software to businesses through a joint venture with private equity firms. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s recently appointed chief revenue officer, will be taking over some of Lightcap’s duties.

Meanwhile, chief marketing officer Kate Rouch is stepping down from her position to focus on her recovery from cancer, with plans to return in a more limited purview as her health allows. The company is searching for a new CMO. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of AGI development who oversees much of its core business, will also take a medical leave for several weeks to seek new treatment for an ongoing neuroimmune condition and plans to return to her position.

The flurry of changes coincide with a pivotal moment for the company. OpenAI is preparing for a possible initial public offering and just raised $122 billion in funding at an $852 billion valuation this week. Meanwhile, it’s pushing to bolster revenue by introducing advertising in ChatGPT, among other efforts. The company also faces heightened competition from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Anthropic PBC, the latter of which is expected to go public as soon as this year.

“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,” OpenAI said in a statement. “We’re well-positioned to keep executing with continuity and momentum.”

The ChatGPT maker is no stranger to executive shakeups. In the months after Altman’s brief ouster from OpenAI in late 2023, the company contended with a series of high-profile departures. It eventually overhauled and dramatically increased the size of the board and C-Suite, bringing on seasoned leaders with marketing, finance and operational experience.

Simo, the former CEO of Instacart, joined OpenAI’s executive team last year to help shape the company’s product development strategy. In recent weeks, she has played a key role in pushing the company to streamline its sprawling mix of services and develop a single “Super App” that would bring together its chatbot, coding tool and web browser. She also called for dropping work on “side quests,” shortly before the company discontinued support for its Sora AI video generator, and has overseen the push to test ads in ChatGPT.

“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,” Simo said in the company memo about her decision to go on leave. “But the company is in great hands; we have an excellent leadership team that’s ready to step up.”

Simo has been public about her ongoing management of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which she has worked through over the course of her career. “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,” she said in the memo. “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.”

While Simo is on leave, OpenAI cofounder and president Greg Brockman will lead product. Other executives will also help fill in for Simo while she’s out, including chief strategy officer Jason Kwon, chief financial officer Sarah Friar and Dresser.

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