High-level executives are continuing to leave OpenAI ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).
Brad Lightcap, former chief operating officer (COO) of OpenAI, said on the 11th (local time) on social media platform X that he is leaving the company to start a new business.
The former COO, Lightcap, said it was "bittersweet to share that I'm leaving OpenAI to start something new."
Lightcap said that in recent months he focused on examining OpenAI's mission to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) for all humanity and the obstacles standing in the way. He added, "I think there are a few important problems the world needs to get right." He did not disclose specific plans, but it is seen as a hint that he may launch a new business related to AGI.
Lightcap joined OpenAI in 2018 through his connection with OpenAI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sam Altman, with whom he worked at venture firm Y Combinator. Since then, he built most of the operations and business functions, including finance, legal, human resources, corporate security, go-to-market, and partnerships.
On Apr. in , he stepped down as COO and moved to lead "special projects," spearheading the launch of a consulting joint venture, "OpenAI Deployment Company," that dispatches engineers directly to corporations to build AI systems.
Meanwhile, news of Lightcap's resignation came a day after reports that Chloe Bakalar, OpenAI's head of dedicated ethics, had left. Earlier, Fidji Simo, who served as CEO of the business institutional sector at OpenAI, resigned last month to treat a chronic illness, and Johannes Heidecke, head of safety systems, and futurist Joshua Achiam also left the company.
On Apr. in , executives who led the team for the video generation model "Sora," as well as Srinivas Narayanan, who was the technical lead for the B2B applications institutional sector, and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Kate Rauch, also resigned.
Given that Lightcap had been handling separate projects after stepping down as COO, the direct impact of this departure on company operations appears relatively limited. Still, the continued departure of senior executives as OpenAI prepares to go public is a burden. In particular, because he was an early key figure who built the company's core operations organizations, there is concern that the move could cause unrest inside and outside the company.