OpenAI's "No. 2" resigns: Fidji Simo becomes a part-time consultant due to recurrence of neuroimmune disease. On July 10, Fidji Simo, the second-ranked senior executive within OpenAI, announced that he will step down from his full-time position.

OpenAI's "No. 2" resigns: Fidji Simo becomes a part-time consultant due to recurrence of neuroimmune disease. On July 10, Fidji Simo, the second-ranked senior executive within OpenAI, announced that he would step down from his full-time position. In an internal letter released to employees on Thursday local time, Simo admitted that he had previously taken leave due to the recurrence of a neuroimmune disease, but his recovery progress was not as good as expected, so he decided to become a part-time consultant. Simo joined the OpenAI board of directors in 2024 and officially became the CEO of the OpenAI application department in May 2025. This position was created to integrate the company's business and product operations. At that time, many executives, including Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil, reported to it, while CEO Sam Altman turned more of his energy to the fields of research, computing power, and security. Before joining OpenAI, Simo served as the CEO of Instacart since 2021 and led the company to complete its IPO in 2023. He previously worked at Meta for more than ten years and was responsible for the core business of Facebook applications. ChatGPT's growth is slowing down, and OpenAI is facing double pressure. This personnel change has a profound impact on OpenAI. Simo was previously responsible for promoting the company's consumer business growth. However, as ChatGPT's growth slowed down at the end of last year and failed to meet internal revenue targets, OpenAI is facing pressure to adjust its business direction, including shifting to more competitive programming tools. Given that OpenAI is currently preparing for a potential IPO and is competing fiercely with rival Anthropic in the enterprise market, Simo's departure leaves Altman with the urgent task of finding a successor. Losing the "number two" at the critical juncture of commercial expansion and listing preparations will undoubtedly increase the uncertainty of the company's strategic execution. Senior executives frequently leave, and talent strategies are significantly increased. OpenAI has undergone frequent personnel structural adjustments in recent years. Earlier this year, it experienced the departure of chief marketing officer Kate Rouch and the departure of chief product officer Kevin Weil. The current executive management team includes Sam Altman, Brad Lightcap, Sarah Friar and co-founder Greg Brockman. Outside analysts believe that current chief revenue officer Denise Dresser may take on more responsibilities. In terms of talent strategy, OpenAI shortened the waiting period for employee equity vesting from 12 months to 6 months in April last year, and further improved it in December last year.