OpenAI names Instacart leader Fidji Simo as new CEO of Applications

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OpenAI names Instacart leader Fidji Simo as new CEO of Applications

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Last night, OpenAI published a blog post on its official website authored by CEO and co-founder Sam Altman announcing a major new hire: Fidji Simo, currently CEO and Chair at grocery delivery company Instacart, will join […]

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Last night, OpenAI published a blog post on its official website authored by CEO and co-founder Sam Altman announcing a major new hire: Fidji Simo, currently CEO and Chair at grocery delivery company Instacart, will join OpenAI as CEO of Applications, a newly created executive position.

Simo will step into her new role at OpenAI later in 2025 following a transition period. She will report directly to Altman and lead the Applications division, which includes teams responsible for translating OpenAI’s research into products used by consumers and businesses worldwide.

Simo also shared a message with her team at Instacart, which she later posted publicly on her LinkedIn profile, stating: “This was an incredibly hard decision because I love this company… At the same time, you all know my passion for AI generally and in particular for the potential it has to cure diseases — the ability to lead such an important part of our collective future was a hard opportunity to pass up.”

She further wrote: “Joining OpenAI at this critical moment is an incredible privilege and responsibility. This organization has the potential of accelerating human potential at a pace never seen before and I am deeply committed to shaping these applications toward the public good.”

Altman was clear to state he will remain the CEO of the entire ChatGPT company, but that the organization’s growing scope across AI research, product delivery, and infrastructure meant it was time for the creation of a new division with its own executive leader.

Altman said he plans to devote increased focus to Research, Compute, and Safety Systems, which will continue reporting directly to him. He reiterated that all functions will remain integrated under a single OpenAI structure, including its nonprofit arm.

Simo will remain Instacart’s CEO for the coming months and help onboard her successor, who is expected to come from the company’s existing management team. She will continue serving as Chair of the Instacart Board after stepping down as CEO.

OpenAI’s evolving structure and AI stack

Altman emphasized the strategic importance of the new role, noting that OpenAI has evolved beyond its original identity as a research lab.

Over the past two and a half years, the company has grown into a global product provider and, more recently, an infrastructure builder delivering AI tools at large scale.

“We’re in a privileged position to be scaling at a pace that lets us do them all simultaneously, and bringing on exceptional leaders is a key part of doing that well,” Altman wrote in his blog post.

He described Simo as uniquely qualified to lead the Applications group, citing her leadership experience, operational expertise, and alignment with OpenAI’s mission.

Separately, in prepared testimony before the U.S. Congress today, Altman also included a chart showing how OpenAI views the “AI stack” it offers customers, and how the entire industry is divided into three core buckets or “layers”:

Also in that testimony, Altman revealed more examples of what OpenAI considers to be part of the AI applications layer, among them, chatbots such as its hit ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot (also powered in part by AI models):

“Ultimately, both the infrastructure and platform layers support the applications layer. These are devices and software applications that use AI to deliver better services to people. ChatGPT and 4 Microsoft’s Copilot are both examples of AI applications. One of the amazing things about the applications layer is it’s not just companies – large or small or established or startup – that are creating AI applications. It’s everybody. It’s researchers using new AI-infused applications to change drug discovery. It’s non-profits changing the way they deliver services. It’s teachers using AI as a tool to improve the way they prepare material for a classroom. It’s governments making everything from the filing of a tax return to the renewal of a driver’s license easier and more efficient.

To build a new AI economy, it’s critical to get all three of these layers working and to get a flywheel turning across the ecosystem. It’s essential to build the infrastructure layer so people can develop and deploy the models at the platform layer. It’s essential to use the AI models so that people will build the applications on top of them. And it’s essential for customers to adopt the applications, so the market can grow, and drive increased investment to expand the infrastructure further. The process repeats itself. This is how a new economy is born.”

More OpenAI team members shared praise for Simo on social media, mainly X, where Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Kate Rouch wrote of the new hire: “She’s all signal. No noise. Highest integrity leader I know. Very good news: for OpenAI, for all of us.”

Caitlin Kalinowski, who is a member of the technical staff at OpenAI and leads its hardware and robotics vision, also took to X to post, in part: “We couldn’t be luckier to have her deep experience and warm leadership style. Welcome, Fidji!!!”

Simo boasts an impressive track record focused on turning tech into viable businesses

Simo joined OpenAI’s board in March 2024 and brings extensive leadership experience in technology, consumer platforms, and healthcare innovation.

At Instacart, she oversaw the company’s public debut and a series of business milestones, including scaling its advertising business and launching new offerings.

Before that, she spent a decade at Facebook, where she led the core Facebook app and was responsible for key product areas including Video, Marketplace, Groups, and Ads.

She is also the co-founder of the Metrodora Institute, a clinic and research center focused on neuroimmune disorders, where she serves as President of the Metrodora Foundation. In addition to her board seat at OpenAI, Simo sits on the boards of Shopify and previously Cirque du Soleil.

With this leadership appointment, OpenAI is signaling a deeper focus on scaling its consumer and enterprise-facing AI offerings. By establishing a dedicated CEO role for its Applications division, the company aims to build stronger operational infrastructure while aligning with its broader mission to develop AI that benefits the public.

Implications for enterprise technical decision makers

For enterprise stakeholders building on OpenAI’s models, this leadership move could signal important changes in how OpenAI develops, packages, and delivers its software interfaces and tools. The creation of a dedicated Applications division reflects a deeper commitment to the operational scale and reliability that large organizations increasingly demand from AI vendors. As the company matures from a research-centric entity into a provider of business-critical infrastructure and applications, users may see improvements in product stability, integration support, and roadmap clarity—areas where traditional software vendors have long invested, but newer AI entrants are still catching up.

Simo’s appointment may also hint at a broader productization push within OpenAI. Her background at Facebook and Instacart underscores a focus on monetizing complex platforms and converting experimental technologies into widely adopted consumer and enterprise solutions. Enterprise leaders watching for cues on OpenAI’s future direction might reasonably expect an expansion in verticalized offerings, developer tooling, and support for enterprise-grade deployments.

More broadly, the move acknowledges a shift happening across the AI industry: successful adoption increasingly depends not just on model quality or research novelty, but on how well these systems integrate into the operational realities of businesses. As OpenAI grows its executive bench to reflect that need, it’s aligning more closely with the enterprise audience it now serves—an audience that values not only performance and innovation but reliability, control, and product maturity.

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