OpenAI Hires Instacart CEO to Oversee ChatGPT, Purposes

A number one e-commerce government will quickly head OpenAI’s purposes enterprise.

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, 39, announced on Wednesday in a LinkedIn submit that she is leaving the grocery supply service to affix OpenAI as CEO of Purposes later this 12 months. Within the new position, she’s going to lead OpenAI’s merchandise, including ChatGPT, and report on to CEO Sam Altman, 40.

Simo wrote that she’s going to stay CEO of Instacart “for a few months” to make sure a clean transition. Even after she leaves, she’s going to stay the chair of Instacart’s board.

“Let me begin by saying this was an extremely laborious resolution as a result of I like this firm,” Simo wrote within the LinkedIn submit, which was a replica of a message she despatched to the Instacart staff.

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Simo wrote that her “ardour for AI” and “the potential it has to treatment illnesses” persuaded her to affix OpenAI. Wired reported on Wednesday that OpenAI is in talks with the FDA to use AI for drug evaluations, doubtlessly rushing up the time it takes for a drug to hit the market. Simo, in the meantime, is co-founder and president of a medical analysis heart known as Metrodora, which focuses on diagnosing and treating neuroimmune problems.

“The flexibility to guide such an essential a part of our collective future was a tough alternative to move up,” Simo acknowledged.

In an OpenAI blog post on Wednesday, Altman wrote that Simo, who joined OpenAI’s board final 12 months, had “already contributed an awesome deal” to the corporate. He didn’t present particular examples of Simo’s contributions, however wrote that she would now be accountable for serving to lead the corporate by a brand new part of development. In March, OpenAI finalized a $40 billion fundraising spherical that valued the corporate at $300 billion. This week, OpenAI announced that its non-profit arm would proceed to manage its for-profit enterprise to make sure OpenAI’s mission of AI that “advantages all of humanity.”

The Purposes division is one in every of OpenAI’s three core companies (Analysis and Compute and the opposite two). Altman wrote in a post on X that Simo’s appointment means he can focus extra on analysis as the corporate works in the direction of superintelligence, AI that surpasses human intelligence in all areas.

so excited that @fidjissimo is becoming a member of openai in a brand new position: ceo of purposes, reporting to me.

i am going to stay ceo of openai, however on this new configuration i am going to be capable to enhance my deal with analysis, compute, and security.

these are vital as we strategy superintelligence.

— Sam Altman (@sama) May 8, 2025

Bloomberg experiences that OpenAI’s Chief Working Officer Brad Lightcap, Chief Monetary Officer Sarah Friar, and Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil will report back to Simo when she joins OpenAI.

Simo has been the CEO of Instacart since 2021, main the corporate by the pandemic and to a September 2023 initial public offering. For the reason that firm went public, Instacart shares have grown by over 47% on the time of writing. The corporate noticed its first quarter revenue for 2025 enhance 9% year-over-year to $897 million, with order quantity up 14%.

Earlier than Instacart, Simo labored at Meta for a decade and held the position of vice chairman and head of the Fb app from 2019 to 2021. She launched adverts to the Fb app and constructed Fb Reside, overseeing a team of 6,000 people.

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