Fidji Simo stepped down from her full-time role as OpenAI's president of applications on Thursday, transitioning to a part-time advisory position after her chronic illness recovery proved longer than she had anticipated.
In her X post, Simo wrote that she "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 added that the truth is that she is "only making this decision now because I failed to make it many times before." Simo said she took medical leave three months ago after a "severe exacerbation" of a chronic illness she has lived with for seven years.
She recalled once declining a full year of medical leave offered by Meta (NASDAQ:META), saying CEO Mark Zuckerberg had told her to "play the long game." Responding to Simo's post, Rishi N.
Reddy, a colleague and co-founder, called Simo "an n of 1," writing that "sometimes the harder thing isn't to keep pushing, it's knowing when to prioritize you." @fidjissimo is truly an n of 1.
Sometimes the harder thing isn't to keep pushing, it's knowing when to prioritize you.
