Openai's next CEO Application Fidji Simo sent her first note to staff on Monday, telling the staff the tool that “unlocks more opportunities for people than any other technology in history.”
“When you make this right, AI can give everyone more power than ever,” wrote Shimo, shocking the excessive optimal tone, according to a copy of the notes viewed by Wired. “But I also realized that those opportunities didn't magically show up for myself.”
Simo is currently working as CEO of Instacart. Previously, she spent 10 years in Meta. There, she went from product manager for the company's newsfeed to head of product for the Facebook app. For the past year, Simo has been a member of Openai's board of directors. In her note, Shimo said he will begin his role as an OpenA executive “in a few weeks.” She reports directly to CEO Sam Altman.
According to Altman's announcement on hiring in May, Simo's main role is to lead the startup's business and operations team. She is responsible for translating OpenAI research into viable products such as ChatGPT, APIs (which developers use to build their own tools on top of OpenAI technology), and enterprise tools, and ensuring well-known business partnerships.
In the memo, Shimo outlines her thoughts on how AI influences knowledge, health, creative expression, financial freedom, time, and support. She promotes some common ideas for drawing rosy AI pictures. Personalized AI tutor, better health data, opportunities for creative expression, increased efficiency from automation, AI-driven emotional support (heart-discussed topics).
“My business coach Katia has been transformed into my career, and for many years everyone has been joking about needing a 'Katia in her pocket',” Shimo wrote. “Personalized coaching was clearly a privilege reserved for a small number, but now ChatGpt is available to many people.”
This memo is read like a mission statement for Openai's broader bets, not just for the Applications department. This means you can build personal and essential tools like search engines and smartphones. In the note, Simo positions Openai's products as a great equalizer that defeats barriers to social knowledge, income and emotional clarity, but it remains to be seen whether they will actually do so.
“AI can compress thousands of hours of learning into personalized insights provided in plain language at a pace tailored to us, catering to a specific level of understanding,” Shimo writes. “It teaches you to ask for better things, not just answer questions. It helps you develop confidence in a field that you once felt opaque and intimidated and grew personally and professionally.”
The memo also suggests Openai's vision for his emotional peers. In the closing section, Shimo writes that AI coaches will “be available throughout the day, and can support you with a full understanding of all aspects of your life and bring subconscious patterns to your consciousness.”
The idea relates to the rumored hardware device Openai is creating it with famous designer Jony Ive. The WallStreet Journal reports that it is “fully aware of the users' surroundings and lives.” Altman hasn't moved away from flat-out saying the company wants to build AI that resembles the film she, A fresh, lonely man transforms from a failed marriage into a virtual companion named Samantha. Of course, it also engulfed Altman in hot water as critics point out that the film is more of a story of attention than a business opportunity.
This memo was very present in the Openai Executive brand. They are optimistic and are based primarily on future promises. Simo boss Altman is working to tailor some of the futuristic ideas like Stargate and artificial general information, but Simo combines complex startup research with real-life tools for consumers.
“If AI can help people really understand themselves, it could be one of the greatest gifts we can receive,” Simo wrote.
Updated: 7/21/2025 2:45 PM EDT: Wired has revealed that Fidji Simo is still CEO of Instacart and will officially join Openai next month.
