Fidji Simo, currently the CEO of Instacart, will be joining OpenAI as the CEO of Applications, the company announced on May 7.
Simo has been a board member at OpenAI since 2023. She will slowly step down from her job at the grocery tech company over the next few months and start her new role at OpenAI later this year.
OpenAI chose Simo for the role as it works to grow its technology through tools like ChatGPT that are used by everyday people, as well as business-focused AI applications.
She will report directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who still leads the company’s research, computing, and applications efforts.
In a statement, Sam Altman said, “Applications brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world, and Fidji is uniquely qualified to lead this group. As an OpenAI board member over the past year, Fidji has already contributed greatly to our company. She will transition from her role at Instacart over the next few months and join OpenAI later this year.”
According to Bloomberg, Simo will lead important company parts, such as operations, finance, and product teams.
Although Altman didn’t share complete details about her role, he said she would help grow and manage OpenAI’s core business functions.
“In addition to supporting Fidji and our Applications teams, I will increase my focus on Research, Compute, and Safety Systems, which will continue to report directly to me,” added Altman.
Before becoming CEO of Instacart in 2021, Simo worked for more than 10 years at Meta. There, she held top roles in product management and helped bring in revenue. She also led projects like launching ads on the Facebook News Feed and developing video features.
At Instacart, Simo was key in guiding the company to go public in 2023.
In a statement, Simo Fidji said, “This organization has the potential of accelerating human potential at a pace never seen before, and I am deeply committed to shaping these applications toward the public good.”
In a letter to her current team, Simo said that the next CEO of Instacart will be someone already working in the company’s leadership. An official announcement will be made soon.
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