Who is Fidji Simo? OpenAI’s top executive for AGI deployment steps down due to health concerns as AI race intensifies
Fidji Simo, chief executive officer (CEO) of AGI deployment at OpenAI, who oversaw much of the artificial intelligence (AI) startup’s core business, has resigned from his position following three months of medical leave and will hand over his responsibilities to three other senior officials. Bloomberg He reported on Friday.
Why did Fidji Simo resign?
Simo, who was hired more than a year ago, has been on medical leave since April due to an ongoing neuroimmune condition. According to a post shared on X, he will now serve as a part-time consultant for the artificial intelligence startup.
“Three months ago, I had to go on medical leave following a severe flare-up of a chronic illness that I had been living with for seven years,” he wrote, adding: “During this time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complicated than I had anticipated, and that I needed to focus fully on it.”
According to the report, Simo said that product and business responsibilities will be shared between OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, and Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon. But he added that OpenAI will continue to make recommendations on consumer products, advertising and healthcare products.
In a post on
Simo, who joined OpenAI in August last year, was responsible for the company’s efforts to expand its business model in preparation for a potential initial public offering (IPO).
Who is Fidji Simo?
Simo received his Master’s degree in Management from HEC Paris. He later earned another master’s degree in Business Administration/Commerce from UCLA Anderson School of Management. Before joining OpenAI, he was the former chief executive officer of Instacart.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Simo worked as a strategy manager at eBay from 2007 to 2011. He joined Facebook in 2011 as a product marketing-advertising manager for two years and then led product management for a year. Simo served as Director of Product Management at Facebook from 2014 to 2017, and then became VP of Video, Games, Monetization from 2017 to 2019.
In 2019, he became a board member at Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group for a year and then rejoined Facebook as president of the app.
Simo served as a board member and chief executive officer of Instacart from 2021 to 2025. During this time, he also held many other positions, including co-founder of the Metrodora Institute and a board member of Shopify.
Simo became a board member of OpenAI for one year in 2024. He joined the company in 2025 as CEO of AGI distribution and also co-founded ChronicleBio.
The artificial intelligence race is heating up
Over the past year, the AI startup has faced intense competition, particularly from rival Antropik PBC, in areas such as coding agents. The Sam Altman-led company filed for an IPO last month and was valued at $852 billion in a fundraising round in March.
OpenAI on Thursday introduced a new AI agent designed to give white-collar professionals access to coding capabilities without the high costs often associated with such tools. Reuters reported. The AI agent, called ChatGPT Work, will combine a chatbot with the AI coding tool Codex to create documents, presentations and websites.
