Who’s Fidji Simo, new ChatGPT head at OpenAI?

Fidji Simo, the chief executive of Instacart, is set to join OpenAI as its chief of applications. Sam Altman, the cofounder and CEO of the ChatGPT maker said she will report to him and that he remains head of the company. She will start her new job at OpenAI later this year.This came in the same week that OpenAI dialed back a significant restructuring plan, with its nonprofit parent retaining control in a move that is likely to limit Altman’s power.

Here’s all we know about Simo.

About her: Simo, 39, has led the online grocery delivery firm to profitability since taking the helm in 2021. Instacart went public on the Nasdaq in September 2023.

Social media play: Simo was at social media giant Meta Platforms for a decade, including as the head of Facebook from 2019 until 2021 and currently sits on the board of Shopify.

On board: Simo was also among the three directors that joined OpenAI’s board in March last year after Altman returned as CEO following an investigation into the events surrounding his ouster from the AI company in late 2023.

What of Instacart? The company will name a new CEO soon, and Simo will stay on as Chair to support the transition.Exits and entry

OpenAI has seen a wave of senior-level exits over the past year, particularly among its AI safety and research leadership.

Ilya Sutskever: Cofounder and former chief scientist, Sutskever left in May 2024 after nearly a decade at OpenAI. He later launched Safe Superintelligence, a startup focused on developing safe artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Jan Leike: Co-led OpenAI’s now dissolved Superalignment team with Sutskever. Leike resigned shortly after Sutskever, citing disagreements over OpenAI’s priorities and a perceived deprioritisation of safety in favour of product development. He joined Anthropic as Head of alignment science.

John Schulman: A cofounder and key figure in developing reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF) for ChatGPT; left in August 2024 to join Anthropic.

Mira Murati: Chief technology officer Murati resigned in September 2024 to pursue personal projects. Her departure followed internal tensions over the company’s focus on commercial products.

Barret Zoph: Vice president of research, Zoph resigned around the same time as Murati, citing personal reasons for his departure.