Fidji Simo to leave full-time OpenAI role and become part-time advisor

The CEO of AGI Deployment said she will leave her full-time role after medical leave, while continuing work on AI and disease through OpenAI, ChronicleBio and Complex Disorders Alliance.

Fidji Simo has said she will leave her full-time role at OpenAI and become a part-time advisor. Photo: Fidji Simo

Fidji Simo, CEO of AGI Deployment at OpenAI, has said she will leave her full-time role and become a part-time advisor, after concluding that recovery from a chronic illness will take longer than expected.

Simo announced the move in a LinkedIn post, saying she had shared the decision with the OpenAI team after three months of medical leave following “a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness I’ve lived with for seven years.”

The transition changes Simo’s role less than a year after she joined OpenAI full time in August 2025 to lead AGI Deployment, a remit tied to how OpenAI brings its technology into products, business operations and real-world use.

Simo said she will continue contributing to OpenAI’s work in an advisory capacity while focusing on recovery. She also pointed to ongoing work with ChronicleBio and Complex Disorders Alliance, saying she remains focused on AI’s potential role in curing disease.

She framed the decision around a lesson she said had been difficult to accept: “Sometimes the harder thing is to stop, listen, and trust that taking care of yourself today makes it possible to contribute for much longer tomorrow.”

Simo says recovery needs her full focus

Simo said she had decided to step back after realizing the “road to recovery would be much longer than anticipated.”

“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,” she said.

The post was unusually direct about the pressure to keep working through illness. Simo said many people had called her courageous for prioritizing her health, but added: “The truth is that I am only making this decision now because I failed to make it many times before.”

She said doctors, friends, colleagues and loved ones had encouraged her to slow down over the years. At Facebook, she said, she was once offered the chance to take a full year of medical leave and did not consider it.

Simo recalled advice from Mark Zuckerberg: “At the time, Zuck told me I should play the long game. I wish I had listened.”

OpenAI role shifts after AGI Deployment appointment

Simo joined OpenAI after leading Instacart as Chief Executive Officer from 2021 to 2025. She previously spent a decade at Facebook, where she held senior product leadership roles, and she remains a board member at Shopify.

At OpenAI, her role as CEO of AGI Deployment placed her at the center of the company’s work to bring AI systems into products and practical use cases. That deployment work is relevant across education, enterprise, consumer technology, healthcare and other sectors now adopting generative AI tools at speed.

Simo said her decision was made with support from OpenAI leadership: “I’m deeply grateful to Sam, Greg and the OpenAI board for their support during this time and for offering a way for me to continue contributing to the mission without sacrificing my chances of recovery.”

She also thanked her team and colleagues, saying she had been privileged to build alongside them.

The move does not remove Simo from OpenAI entirely. Her new part-time advisory role keeps her connected to the company while shifting her immediate focus away from full-time operating responsibilities.

Health experience sharpens AI focus

Simo used the post to connect her personal health experience with her broader view of AI’s role in solving practical problems.

She described the contrast between building future technology and living with illness: “It has been a jarring experience to spend my days helping build the future while simultaneously navigating a disabling disease that has no cure.”

Simo said the experience had involved “countless hours in doctors’ offices,” as well as symptoms, treatments, insurance, uncertainty and the “invisible work” of being a patient.

That has shaped where she sees some of AI’s most important opportunities. Simo said: “More than ever, I believe that some of the most important opportunities for AI lie in helping people solve real problems in their daily lives: their health, their finances, their time and the everyday burdens that shape human experience.”

She added: “In particular, curing disease is the most important thing AI could accomplish. I’m excited to continue working towards cures through OpenAI but also through my work with ChronicleBio and Complex Disorders Alliance.”

Simo co-founded ChronicleBio in May 2025. The company is building a biological data platform for AI-driven therapies for complex chronic conditions. She has also been linked to Complex Disorders Alliance and previously co-founded the Metrodora Institute.

Simo closed the post by making clear that recovery is now the priority: “For now, my focus is recovery. But my belief in the potential of technology to solve deeply human problems has never been stronger.”