Fidji Simo named CEO of OpenAI Applications

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI Applications. In her new role, Simo will lead the product, business, and other company functions.

Simo informed about her new role through a LinkedIn post where she shared an email that she sent to her team at Instacart.

“I want to share an important update with you that I will be leaving Instacart in the coming months to take on a new role as CEO of OpenAI Applications, leading the product, business, and other company functions”, the LinkedIn post read.

Talking about her love for AI, she wrote, “At the same time, you all know my passion for AI generally and in particular for the potential it has to cure diseases — the ability to lead such an important part of our collective future was a hard opportunity to pass up. I only feel comfortable doing this because Instacart is on an excellent track and in great hands with a stellar management team”.

In her post, she stated that the change is not immediate and will take on the new role in a couple of months. “Our board regularly conducts succession planning exercises, and we expect the new CEO will be announced soon and will be an existing member of our management team. I’ll remain CEO and work closely with my successor and our leadership team to ensure a smooth handoff. I’ll also stay on as Chair of the Board to support our next CEO”, she said.

Commenting on Simo's appointment, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X saying that she will report to him. "So excited that Fidji Simo is joining OpenAI in a new role: CEO of Applications, reporting to me. I'll remain CEO of OpenAI, but in this new configuration, I'll be able to increase my focus on research, compute, and safety. These are critical as we approach superintelligence", the post read.

Fidji Simo has been the CEO and Chair at Instacart for over 4 years. In her previous stints, she has worked with Shopify, Facebook and more.