OpenAI COO Shifts Out of Role, AGI CEO Taking Medical Leave

(Bloomberg) — OpenAI’s chief operating officer is moving to a new role and two other top executives are taking leave for health reasons; This marks a major change in management ahead of its potential launch on Wall Street later 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 to oversee OpenAI’s effort to sell software to businesses through joint ventures with private equity firms. OpenAI’s recently appointed chief revenue officer, Denise Dresser, will take over some of Lightcap’s duties.

Meanwhile, Marketing Director Kate Rouch is stepping down to focus on her cancer recovery, with plans to return in a more limited capacity as her health allows. The company is looking for a new CMO. AGI development CEO Fidji Simo, who oversees much of OpenAI’s core business, will also take several weeks of medical leave to seek new treatments for an ongoing neuroimmune condition and plans to return to his role.

The flurry of changes coincides with a pivotal moment for the company. OpenAI is gearing up for a possible IPO and this week raised $122 billion in funding at an $852 billion valuation. Meanwhile, it is trying to increase revenue by offering advertising on ChatGPT, among other efforts. The company also faces increasing competition from Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Anthropic PBC. Anthropic PBC is expected to go public later this year.

“We have a strong leadership team focused on our top priorities: advancing pioneering research, growing our global user base of nearly 1 billion users, and powering enterprise use cases,” OpenAI said in a statement. “We are well positioned to continue moving forward with continuity and momentum.”

The ChatGPT maker is no stranger to managerial changes. In the months after Altman briefly left OpenAI in late 2023, the company struggled with a series of high-profile departures. He eventually overhauled and significantly increased the size of the board and C-Suite; It brought together experienced leaders with marketing, finance and operational experience.

Simo, former CEO of Instacart, joined OpenAI’s management team last year to help shape the company’s product development strategy. In recent weeks, he has been instrumental in helping the company streamline its expanding range of services and develop a single “Super App” that will bring together a chatbot, coding tool, and web browser. He also called for a halt to work on “side quests” and oversaw a push to test ads on ChatGPT, shortly before the company discontinued support for the Sora AI video creator.

“The timing is maddening because we have an exciting roadmap ahead of us that the team is working on, and I would hate to miss even a minute of it,” Simo said in a company memo about the decision to go on leave. “But the company is in good hands; we have an excellent leadership team ready to step in.”

Simo has publicly acknowledged his ongoing treatment for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which he has been working on throughout his career. “During my time here, I have postponed medical tests and new treatments in order to focus fully on my work and not miss a single day of work,” he said in the memo. “Two weeks ago I took time off for the first time for some medical tests and it is now clear that I have gone a little too far and I really need to try new interventions to stabilize my health.”

While Simo is on leave, OpenAI co-founder and President Greg Brockman will lead the product. Other executives, including Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar and Dresser, will also help fill in for Simo in his absence.

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