Fidji Simo steps down from leading OpenAI’s AGI work due to illness
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Fidji Simo is stepping down from her full-time role leading OpenAI's work on artificial general intelligence (AGI), moving instead to a position as a "part-time advisor," she announced on X. The change follows her earlier decision in April to take medical leave shortly after assuming the AGI chief title, and matters because it marks the departure of a senior executive from one of OpenAI's most strategically important areas amid a broader period of leadership upheaval at the company.
Simo explained that three months ago she had to take leave after a "severe exacerbation" of a chronic neuroimmune condition she has lived with for seven years, adding that her recovery would be longer and more complex than anticipated and that the disease still has no cure. Her April announcement preceded a wave of C-suite changes, including COO Brad Lightcap moving to "special projects" and CMO Kate Rouch stepping back for health reasons. By mid-May, a reorganisation saw president Greg Brockman take charge of product strategy and "scaling" across four pillars, with a stated aim of merging ChatGPT and Codex into a single agentic platform. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said on X that he was "really sad about this" and expressed gratitude to Simo.
- Fidji Simo leaves OpenAI's AGI chief role for a part-time advisory position.
- She cited a worsening chronic neuroimmune condition requiring full focus on recovery.
- Her departure follows months of wider OpenAI leadership reshuffles.
New here? Start with this
Fidji Simo joined OpenAI in 2025 as chief executive of applications, and in early 2025 took on the additional title of leading the company's work on artificial general intelligence, or AGI, the term used for a hypothetical future AI system that could match or exceed human ability across most tasks. She stepped back from that role on medical leave shortly after taking it up, and has now moved into a part-time advisory position rather than returning full-time.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has seen several senior figures leave or change roles this year, including its chief operating officer and chief marketing officer, alongside a wider reorganisation of how the company plans and builds its products. Sam Altman remains chief executive, and president Greg Brockman has taken on a bigger role overseeing product strategy during this period of change.
This matters because AGI is central to OpenAI's stated mission and to how it is perceived by investors, rivals and regulators, so changes in who leads that work can signal shifts in priorities or stability at the company. Simo's departure from the role adds to a broader pattern of executive turnover at OpenAI that observers have been watching closely.
More coverage