Another major power move in AI world: Fidji Simo, the CEO who took Instacart public and once ran the Facebook app, is heading to OpenAI. Yep, the woman who’s been shaping your shopping and social habits is now stepping into a brand-new role—CEO of Applications at the home of ChatGPT.
Let’s break that down.
Fidji isn’t exactly new to the OpenAI scene. She’s already been on the board for the past year, helping steer the ship from behind the scenes. But now she’s going full throttle. Over the next few months, she’ll transition out of Instacart and officially join OpenAI later this year.
So what does “CEO of Applications” mean, exactly? According to Sam Altman, who’s still very much staying on as CEO of the whole shebang, Simo will lead the team responsible for turning OpenAI’s research into real-world tools—aka, the ChatGPT you know and (maybe) love. She’ll also help scale the more traditional sides of the business, though details on that are still TBD.
And if you’re wondering whether she’s got the chops, let’s just say: Fidji is no rookie. She spent over a decade at Meta building Facebook’s ad empire, launching video products, and eventually running the entire Facebook app. Then she took Instacart from grocery delivery startup to publicly traded company. Casual.
In a post on X, Simo confirmed she’ll stay on as Chair of the Instacart board, but someone else will be taking over as CEO soon.
Her take on the OpenAI move? “Joining OpenAI at this critical moment is an incredible privilege and responsibility… I am deeply committed to shaping these applications toward the public good.”
Translation: Fidji’s here to make sure AI doesn’t just sound smart—it acts smart, scales smart, and works for everyone.
