Fidji Simo steps down from OpenAI’s no. 2 role

Fidji Simo, OpenAI's second-in-command executive, is stepping down from her full-time role to transition to a part-time advisory position, according to a staff note reported by the Wall Street Journal. Simo cited her ongoing medical leave for a neuroimmune condition relapse as being longer and harder than expected. She joined OpenAI in May 2025 as CEO of Applications, a role that consolidated business and product operations and had COO Brad Lightcap, CFO Sarah Friar, and CPO Kevin Weil reporting to her. Simo's departure creates a leadership vacuum as OpenAI eyes a potential IPO, as she was seen as a candidate for more responsibility. Her focus had been on growing OpenAI's consumer business, but ChatGPT's growth cooled late last year, missing revenue targets and pushing the company toward coding tools where it trails Anthropic. The announcement came on a busy day for OpenAI, which also launched its GPT-5.6 family of models and a new agent called ChatGPT Work, both framed as directly targeting Anthropic.