On July 10, Fidji Simo, the second-highest-ranking executive at OpenAI, announced her decision to step down from her full-time role. In an internal letter to employees on Thursday local time, Simo admitted she had taken a leave of absence due to a recurrence of her neuroimmune system disease, but her recovery progress was slower than expected, leading her to transition into a part-time consultant role.

Simo joined OpenAI's board in 2024 and officially became the CEO of OpenAI's applications division in May 2025. This position was established to integrate the company's business and product operations. At that time, several executives, including Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil, reported to her, while CEO Sam Altman focused more on research, computing power, and security. Before joining OpenAI, Simo served as CEO of Instacart since 2021 and led the company through its 2023 IPO. She previously worked at Meta for over ten years, overseeing core Facebook app operations.

ChatGPT Growth Slows, OpenAI Faces Dual Pressures

This personnel change has far-reaching implications for OpenAI. Simo was primarily responsible for driving the company's consumer-level business growth. With ChatGPT's growth slowing down at the end of last year and failing to meet internal revenue targets, OpenAI is now facing pressure to adjust its business direction, including shifting toward more competitive programming tools.

Given that OpenAI is currently preparing for a potential IPO and is engaged in a fierce competition with competitor Anthropic in the enterprise market, Simo's departure puts Altman under urgent pressure to find a successor. Losing the "number two" figure during this critical period of commercial expansion and IPO preparation undoubtedly increases the uncertainty in the company's strategic execution.

Frequent Executive Departures, Enhanced Talent Strategies

OpenAI has experienced frequent personnel restructuring in recent years. Earlier this year, the company saw the departure of Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil. The current executive team includes Sam Altman, Brad Lightcap, Sarah Friar, and co-founder Greg Brockman. Analysts believe that current Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser may take on more responsibilities.