Fidji Simo was the CEO of Applications at OpenAI from May 2025 until July 2026, when she stepped down due to chronic illness and transitioned to a part-time advisory role. She previously served as CEO of Instacart from 2021 to 2025 and earlier as a vice president overseeing the Facebook App.
Role at OpenAI
OpenAI announced on May 9, 2025 that Simo would join as CEO of Applications, taking responsibility for the company's commercial and product side. She simultaneously stepped down from the OpenAI Board of Directors, on which she had previously served. Under the structure, Sam Altman remained CEO overall and of the research arm while Simo headed the Applications side, an arrangement that parallels the division between research and commercial leadership at other frontier labs.
Reporting on the appointment framed Simo's mandate in terms of consumer competition; Bloomberg titled its coverage "OpenAI's Simo Tasked With Keeping ChatGPT Ahead of Bot Rivals" (May 8, 2025). Her consumer-application background at Facebook and Instacart corresponds to ChatGPT's expansion from a chatbot toward a broader consumer platform spanning shopping, health, the Sora app, and the Atlas browser.
Departure
Simo went on medical leave in April 2026, with president Greg Brockman covering product responsibilities on an interim basis; the May 2026 product reorganization made Brockman's product-strategy role permanent. On July 9, 2026 she announced she was stepping down to focus on recovery from a "severe exacerbation of a chronic illness" — Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, diagnosed in 2019 — after a leave that proved "longer and harder than expected," transitioning to a part-time advisory role. Her responsibilities were split among Brockman, CFO Sarah Friar, and Jason Kwon, with the departure coming as OpenAI prepared for a possible IPO at its last formal $852 billion valuation (Source: cnbc.com; techcrunch.com; theinformation.com).
Relationships
- works-at: OpenAI
- related: Sam Altman