YOUR DASHER IS ON THE WAY Fidji Simo joins OpenAI as new CEO of Applications Simo will oversee business operations while Altman focuses on research and compute. Benj Edwards – May 8, 2025 2:45 pm | 23 CEO of Instacart Fidji Simo poses during a photo session at the AI Action Summit in Paris on February 11, 2025. Credit: Joel Saget via Getty Images CEO of Instacart Fidji Simo poses during a photo session at the AI Action Summit in Paris on February 11, 2025. Credit: Joel Saget via Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that Instacart CEO Fidji Simo will join the maker of ChatGPT as "CEO of Applications" later this year, according to a company blog post. Simo, who has served on the company's board since March 2024, will oversee business and operational teams while continuing to report directly to Altman in the newly created role. Altman will remain the primary CEO of OpenAI. According to Reuters, Simo spent a decade at Meta, including a stint serving as the head of Facebook from 2019 to 2021. She also currently sits on the board of e-commerce services site Shopify. The announcement came earlier than planned due to what Altman described as "a leak" that "accelerated our timeline." At OpenAI, Simo will manage what Altman called "traditional company functions" as the organization enters its "next phase of growth." The applications category at OpenAI includes products like ChatGPT, the popular AI assistant. "Applications brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world," wrote Altman in a message to staff later published on the OpenAI website. Simo will transition into her new position at OpenAI over time. She posted on LinkedIn that she is "not going anywhere for a couple of months," saying she'll stay on with Instacart for a bit longer as that company appoints a successor. In the message, Altman described Simo as bringing "a rare blend of leadership, product and operational expertise" and expressed that her addition to the team makes him "even more optimistic about our future as we continue advancing toward becoming the superintelligence company." Simo becomes the newest high-profile female executive at OpenAI following the departure of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati in September. Murati, who had been with the company since 2018 and helped launch ChatGPT, left alongside two other senior leaders and founded Thinking Machines Lab in February. OpenAI’s evolving structure The leadership addition comes as OpenAI continues to evolve beyond its origins as a research lab. In his announcement, Altman described how the company now operates in three distinct areas: as a research lab focused on artificial general intelligence (AGI), as a "global product company serving hundreds of millions of users," and as an "infrastructure company" building systems that advance research and deliver AI tools "at unprecedented scale." Altman mentioned that as CEO of OpenAI, he will "continue to directly oversee success across all pillars," including Research, Compute, and Applications, while staying "closely involved with key company decisions." The announcement follows recent news that OpenAI abandoned its original plan to cede control of its nonprofit branch to a for-profit entity. The company began as a nonprofit research lab in 2015 before creating a for-profit subsidiary in 2019, maintaining its original mission "to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits everyone." Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 23 Comments