Fidji Simo is stepping down from her full-time role as chief of OpenAI's AGI work due to health issues, specifically a neuroimmune condition that necessitated her medical leave several months ago. She will now serve as a part-time advisor. Simo's transition follows a broader reorganization at OpenAI, where other executives have also stepped down or shifted roles due to health and focus on special projects. OpenAI President Greg Brockman is currently handling product strategy as the company aims to merge its product offerings to enhance its AI agent goals.

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Fidji Simo steps down from leading OpenAI’s AGI work due to illness

Simo is transitioning to a role as a ‘part-time advisor.’ She took a medical leave a few months ago.

byHayden Field and Jay Peters

Jul 9, 2026, 7:24 PM EDT

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OpenAI’s Fidji Simo is departing her full-time role as the company’s AGI chief and is transitioning to being a “part-time advisor,” she said on X.

The news follows Simo’s original announcement in April that she would take a few weeks of medical leave due to a neuroimmune condition, shortly after she had taken on the AGI chief title. (She had formerly been the company’s CEO of applications). Around the same time, COO Brad Lightcap also stepped down from his role to focus on “special projects,” and OpenAI CMO Kate Rouch also stepped down in order to focus on her health. Rouch planned to return to a “more narrowly scoped role” when her health allowed for it, Simo said at the time.

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Simo’s announcement in April also kicked off months of announcements of C-suite changes. While Simo was out on medical leave, OpenAI president Greg Brockman was to take charge of product, including leading OpenAI’s super app efforts, while CSO Jason Kwon, CFO Sarah Friar, and CRO Denise Dresser led the business side of things.

But about a month later, in mid-May, things changed again, with a company reorganization: Brockman officially took charge of OpenAI’s product strategy and “scaling,” leading four different pillars: core product and platform; critical enterprise industries; consumer (i.e., health, commerce, and personal finance); and core infrastructure, ads, data science, and growth. In a memo viewed by The Verge in May, Brockman wrote that the reorganization would help the company prioritize its AI agent goals by combining its products to “invest in a single agentic platform and to merge ChatGPT and Codex into one unified agentic experience for all.”

“Three months ago, I had to go on medical leave after a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness I’ve lived with for seven years,” Simo wrote on X. “During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated—and that I needed to focus on it fully … It has been a jarring experience to spend my days helping build the future while simultaneously navigating a disabling disease that still has no cure.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X that he was “really sad about this” and grateful to Simo.

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Hayden Field
Jay Peters
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OpenAI

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