OpenAI President Greg Brockman arrives in federal court as the trial of Elon Musk’s lawsuit over OpenAI’s commercialization continues on May 6, 2026 in Oakland, California.
Manuel Orbegoso | Reuters
OpenAI has a new second-in-command.
Company President Greg Brockman has become the official head of OpenAI’s most important and profitable project after Fiji Simo stepped down from his role Thursday due to chronic illness.
Former Simo Meta Executive officer and former CEO of instacartserved as OpenAI’s head of product and business for about a year, focusing on the company’s roadmap and helping it scale. Simo, who was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) in 2019, took sick leave in April and announced on Thursday that he would transition to a part-time advisory role.
Mr. Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, took over product responsibility in Mr. Simo’s absence and will continue to lead these efforts, said a person familiar with the company’s plans, who requested anonymity to protect confidentiality. Brockman will oversee OpenAI’s ChatGPT product business, as well as its go-to-market and enterprise teams and compute initiatives, the person said.
“I am deeply grateful for everything Fiji has done to advance OpenAI and our mission, and for the opportunity to work with her over the past few years,” Brockman said in an X post on Friday.
Brockman, who reports to CEO Sam Altman, is under pressure to generate revenue and justify OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation, especially as the company prepares for what is expected to be a historic IPO. OpenAI secretly filed a prospectus with regulators in June, but the company has not disclosed when it plans to debut, reportedly delaying it until next year.
OpenAI also supports Anthropic, google and Elon Musk’s space xalong with a host of cheaper open weight models, mostly from China.
According to a Sensor Tower report, ChatGPT’s market share fell below 50% for the first time in March, and OpenAI has been aggressively promoting its AI coding assistant Codex to gain more users.
Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s head of finance, and Jason Kwon, the company’s head of strategy, will report to Altman. According to people familiar with the matter, the company has no plans to hire someone to replace Simo.
Brockman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with a group of others, including Altman and Musk. He and Mr. Altman were close allies, and when Mr. Altman was temporarily ousted as CEO in 2023, Mr. Brockman banded together and left the company. Both men rejoined OpenAI a few days later.
“Greg and I are partners in running this company,” Altman wrote in a blog post at the time. “We’re not entirely sure yet how to communicate that on the org chart, but we intend to do so.”
The two were also at the center of a high-profile legal battle earlier this year. Musk sued Brockman, Altman, and OpenAI for breaking their promise to keep the AI lab nonprofit.
In May in federal court in Oakland, California, Mr. Brockman testified about the startup’s early days and rejected Mr. Musk’s version of events. He resented his personal financial ambitions, his understanding of OpenAI’s structure, and Musk’s involvement in the company.
Musk ultimately lost the case after an advisory jury said it would take too long to litigate, but a federal judge quickly adopted the verdict.
“I think the technology we’re developing is revolutionary,” Brockman said on the witness stand. “This will be the most important technological change in human history.”
Spotlight: OpenAI executive Fidji Simo resigns
