OpenAI hit by further round of management departures
Three major executives at OpenAI announced their departure, the latest in a series of personnel changes at the top of the company. Bill Peebles, previously responsible for OpenAI’s short‑video app Sora, and Kevin Weil, vice‑president of OpenAI for Science, announced on X on Friday that they were leaving. Srinivas Narayanan, who oversaw B2B applications at OpenAI, also announced his departure on the same platform.
Their exits come shortly after Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s head of product and business, announced that he is going on sick leave due to a worsening neuro‑immune disease. Earlier this month, the company’s chief marketing officer, Kate Rouch, stepped down to prioritise her recovery from cancer. Meanwhile, Brad Lightcap, formerly chief operating officer, moved to a role focused on special projects.
Weil joined OpenAI in 2024, initially as chief product officer. The following year, he founded OpenAI for Science. This initiative aimed to develop an AI‑powered platform to accelerate scientific discovery. Before joining OpenAI, Weil held senior roles at Meta and Twitter. Looking back on his time at OpenAI in his post, he expressed his gratitude for the enriching experiences he had during the transition from chief product officer to a research role and ultimately the launch of OpenAI for Science.
Peebles joined OpenAI in 2023 and played a key role in the successful launch of Sora, the short‑video app that quickly gained popularity in Apple’s App Store. The platform allowed users to create and share short videos in a shared feed. However, OpenAI discontinued Sora last month as part of a broader cost‑cutting and resource reallocation strategy in the run‑up to a possible stock market flotation.
Peebles expressed his pride in the team’s dedication and stressed the importance of responsible technology deployment and shaping social norms. He acknowledged that Sora was a project unique to the OpenAI environment and voiced his enduring affection for the company.
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