A leader of electronic commerce will soon direct the OpenAI application business.
The Instacart CEO, Fidji Simo, 39, announced Wednesday in a LinkedIn publication that will leave the grocery delivery service to join OpenAI as CEO of applications at the end of this year. In the new role, it will direct Openai products, including chatgpt, and directly inform the CEO Sam Altman, 40.
Simo wrote that CEO or Instacart will remain “for a couple of months” to guarantee a transition without problems. Just after she leaves, she will continue to be the chair of the Instant Board.
“Let me start by saying that this was an incredible decision because I love this company,” Simo wrote in the LinkedIn publication, which was a copy of a message that he sent to the Stacart team.
Related: ‘Our mission remains the same’: OpenAi reverse the course, says that its non -profit organization will continue to control the business
Simo wrote that his “passion for AI” and “the potential he has to cure diseases” persuaded her to join Openai. Cabling Wednesday reported that Openi is in conversations with the FDA to use AI for drug assessments, potentially accelerating the time that a drug has been getting to reach the market. Simo, meanwhile, is co -founder and president of a medical research center called Metrodora, which focuses on diagnosing and combining neuroimmune disorders.
“The ability to lead such an important part of our collective future was a difficult opportunity to miss,” said Simo.
In an Operai blog post on Wednesday, Altman wrote that Simo, who joined the OpenAi Board last year, “already contributed a lot” to the company. He did not provide specific examples of Simo’s contributions, but wrote that it would now be an answer to help lead the company through a new growth phase. In March, Openai finished a fundraising round of $ 40 billion funds that valued the company at $ 300 billion. This week, Openi announced that his non -profit arm would continue to control his profitable business to guarantee the OpenAi’s mission that “benefits all humanity.”
The application division is one of the three main companies in OpenAI (research and computation and the other two). Altman wrote in an X publication that the appointment of Simo means that it can concentrate more on research while the company works towards superintelligence, the AI that exceeds human intelligence in all areas.
so excited that @fidjissimo It is a set of OpenI in a new role: CEO of Applications, which inform me.
It is still CEO of OpenAi, but in this new configuration I can increase my focus on research, calculation and safety.
These are critics as we approach superintelligence.
– Sam Altman (@sama) May 8, 2025
Bloomberg He informs that Openai’s director of Operations, Brad Lightcap, Financial Director Sarah Friar and product director Kevin Weil will be informed as when she is OpenAi Jains.
Simo has been the CEO of Instacart since 2021, leading the company through the pandemic and an initial public offer of September 2023. Since the company was made public, Instant’s actions have grown in 47% at the time of ingenuity. The company saw its first income quarter by 2025 increased 9% year after year to $ 897 million, with a order volume by 14% more.
Before Instacart, Simo worked in the finish line for a decade and occupied the role of vice president and head of the 2019 Facebook application to 2021. She presented ads in the Facebook application and built Facebook live, supervising a team of 6,000 people.
Related: Saying ‘please’ and ‘thanks’ to chatgpt open costs ‘dozens of millions of dollars’
