Fiji Simo, CEO and President of Instacart, will join Openai as a new CEO of requests, said Sam Altman on Thursday.
“I will remain CEO of Openai, but in this new configuration, I will be able to increase my concentration on research, calculation and security,” Altman wrote in a Post X announcing Simo's hiring Thursday morning.
Altman announced the recruitment of Simo on Wednesday in a message to employees. Openai published Altman's message as a blog article on the same day.
“Applications bring together a group of existing sales and operational teams responsible for how our research is reaching and benefiting the world, and Fiji is particularly qualified to lead this group,” Altman wrote in his message to employees.
Altman said in his message that Simo “has already contributed a lot to our company” since he joined the Board of Directors of Openai in March 2024. He added that Simo will start working in Openai later this year and “will go from his role to Instacart in the coming months”.
In its new role, Simo will directly report from Altman.
“Fiji is exceptional; we worked together on Openai in the past year and I observed his deep commitment to our mission,” wrote Altman on X.
“I cannot imagine a better new member of the team to help us evolve the following 10x (or 100x, see),” added Altman.
When approached for comments, an Openai spokesperson returned Business Insider to his blog article.
So excited that @fidjissimo Joined Openai in a new role: CEO of applications, reporting to me.
I will remain CEO of Openai, but in this new configuration, I will be able to increase my concentration on research, calculation and security.
These are essential as we approach superintendent.
– Sam Altman (@sama) May 8, 2025
Simo began her career at Ebay before moving to Meta, where she supervised the Facebook application and advertising products.
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She joined Instacart as a member of the board of directors in January 2021 and became her CEO in August 2021.
Thursday, Simo wrote in an X post that she will continue to be CEO of Instacart in the coming months and that she will still chair her board of directors after joining Openai.
So excited to join @openai and contributing to its mission. THANKS @Sama For the opportunity – it will be such a privilege to work with such a talented team on one of the most important and ambitious efforts in history.
I will remain CEO @Instacart For the next … https://t.co/hdv3qhqrxj– Fiji Simo (@Fidjissimo) May 8, 2025
“I am very grateful to my Instacart team for the incredible route we had together, and I can't wait to support the next CEO during the transition,” added Simo.
Simo did not immediately respond to a request for BI comments.
