OpenAI executive Fidji Simo has stepped down from her full-time role at the company and will transition to a part-time advisory position after taking a three-month medical leave to recover from a chronic illness.
In a post on X on July 9, Simo said a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness she has lived with for seven years made her realise that her recovery would take longer than expected and required her full attention.
“Today, I shared with the OpenAI team that I have decided to leave my full-time role at OpenAI and transition to being a part-time advisor,” Simo wrote.
“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. 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.”
Simo said she had repeatedly ignored advice from doctors, friends and colleagues to slow down, including an earlier offer from Meta to take a year-long medical leave.
“Over the years, doctors, friends, colleagues, and loved ones encouraged me to slow down,” she wrote. “Facebook offered me the opportunity to take a full year of medical leave. I didn't even pause to consider it. I immediately said no.”
She added that Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had advised her to “play the long game”, saying, “I wish I had listened.”
Simo said the experience reinforced her belief that AI should address everyday problems in areas such as healthcare, finances and time management.
“In particular, curing disease is the most important thing AI could accomplish,” she wrote, adding that she would continue to support that work through OpenAI as well as ChronicleBio and Coda.
Simo thanked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman and the company’s board for allowing her to continue contributing as an adviser while focusing on her recovery.
Simo joined OpenAI’s board in 2024 and became the company’s CEO of Applications in 2025 before later overseeing AGI deployment and commercial operations. Before OpenAI, she served as CEO of Instacart and previously led the Facebook app business at Meta.
During her absence, Greg Brockman took over product responsibilities as the company reorganised its product teams around ChatGPT and Codex.
Your reaction
Discussion
What's your take on this story?
No comments yet — be the first to share your view.