Sam Altman Appoints Fidji Simo as CEO of Applications at OpenAI

In a strategic move to bolster OpenAI’s operational leadership, CEO Sam Altman has appointed Fidji Simo as the new Chief Executive Officer of Applications. This role, a newly established position within the company, will see Simo overseeing the business and operational teams responsible for delivering OpenAI’s research to the public. Altman emphasized that this restructuring allows him to focus more on research, computational development, and AI safety as OpenAI progresses toward achieving superintelligence .

Fidji Simo’s Background and Qualifications

Fidji Simo brings a wealth of experience from her tenure in the tech industry. Before joining OpenAI, she served as the CEO and Chair of Instacart, where she played a pivotal role in the company’s growth and public debut. Prior to that, Simo spent a decade at Meta Platforms, including as the head of Facebook from 2019 until 2021, overseeing significant developments in the platform’s app and advertising products .

Additionally, Simo co-founded the Metrodora Institute, a health clinic and research institute, and currently serves as president of The Metrodora Foundation. She also holds board positions at Shopify and OpenAI .

Transition and Future Plans

Simo is set to transition from her role at Instacart over the next few months while remaining its chair to support the leadership transition. She will begin her new position at OpenAI later this year and will report directly to Sam Altman .

Altman expressed high confidence in Simo’s ability to significantly scale the company’s ambitions, stating, “I cannot imagine a better new team member to help us scale the next 10x (or 100x, let’s see)” .

This appointment is part of OpenAI’s broader efforts to expand its executive team, having also recently hired Sarah Friar as CFO and Kevin Weil as Chief Product Officer. These strategic hires are aimed at strengthening the company’s leadership as it continues to innovate and lead in the field of artificial intelligence.