OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap, announced that he is departing the artificial intelligence company to "start something new."
Lightcap announced his departure in a post on X, sharing the memo he sent to the OpenAI team.
"Team, it is bittersweet to share that I’ll be moving on from OpenAI to start something new. I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent most of the last decade pursuing our mission and building this company. Sitting here today, mission success feels within sight. It has been the honor of my life to help bring us to this point, and to do it alongside all of you."
"Over the last few months, I’ve been focused on the next horizon and what would stand in the way of mission success. I believe there are a few important new things the world will need to get right as we enter this next period. I’ll have more to share soon, but I believe in OpenAI more than ever and am excited to help you all advance the mission from a different vantage point," he continued.
Lightcap plans to remain with OpenAI for the next few weeks, although it is not clear who will take over his role at the company.
Lightcap first joined the AI company in 2018 as CFO, according to his LinkedIn profile. He became chief operating officer in May 2022.
Before that, Lightcap held an investor role at Y Combinator, spent two years in strategic finance at Dropbox, and began his career as an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan Chase.
OpenAI Steps Up Recruitment Efforts
As anticipation builds around a potential IPO, OpenAI is deepening its bench. Last month, the Microsoft-backed (NASDAQ:MSFT) company rehired Lilian Weng to lead a new research team focused on accelerating the company’s internal AI research. The team will focus on research into recursive self-improvement, a process where AI systems improve their own capabilities through repeated iterations.
Liz Wamai was brought on in June as head of recruiting after spending more than three years at Netflix, as well as former Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh as its managing director for the country.
White House artificial intelligence adviser Dean Ball also joined OpenAI, in a role focused on shaping frontier AI policy.
Other recent hires include Ironclad CEO Jason Boehmig, who will lead its product team responsible for building products for the legal industry and former Salesforce AgentExchange CEO Brian Landsman as its vice president of global partnerships.
The ChatGPT maker has also added 40 employees from Salesforce since the start of the year. The company plans to double its workforce from 4,500 to 8,000 by the end of 2026, the Financial Times reported.
Photo: Samuel Boivin / Shutterstock
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