The latest reorg and focus away from ‘side quests’ involves co-founder Greg Brockman taking on more responsibilities. And other management changes. They’re timely to review given the current dynamics around the AI Tech Wave.
“OpenAI is once again reorganizing its executive ranks as part of its effort to unify ChatGPT and Codex into one core product experience.”
“OpenAI told staff on Friday that it would reorganize the company as part of an ongoing effort to unify its product offerings, WIRED has learned. OpenAI cofounder and president Greg Brockman will now lead the company’s product strategy, in addition to his work on AI infrastructure, OpenAI confirms to WIRED. Brockman was previously assigned to oversee OpenAI products on an interim basis while the CEO of AGI deployment, Fidji Simo, was on medical leave; the change is now official.”
Here’s how it’s being laid out in its new form:
“We’re consolidating our product efforts to execute with maximum focus toward the agentic future, to win across both consumer and enterprise,” Brockman said in a memo to staff seen by WIRED. Brockman added that OpenAI’s products are naturally converging, and that the company has decided to merge ChatGPT and Codex into one unified experience.”
Key is the fusion of the presumed ‘consumer’ facing ChatGPT, into the enterprise and developer facing Codex business. Kind of what Anthropic is doing with building Claude Cowork on top of Claude Codex giving it a more advanced consumer (prosumer) focus, even though its supposed to be for enterprises. The line between the two are blurring at both companies.
“OpenAI says it’s folding ChatGPT, its AI coding agent Codex, and its developer-facing API into one core product team. The company says that Codex is increasingly powering its consumer and enterprise offerings, which are gaining the ability to perform digital tasks autonomously on behalf of users.”
“Other OpenAI leaders are also taking on larger roles at the company as part of the changes. OpenAI’s head of Codex, Thibault Sottiaux, has been tapped to lead the company’s core product and platform teams. Sottiaux was a key leader in building Codex into one of the company’s fastest-growing products of all time. He’s also one of the leaders overseeing development of OpenAI’s forthcoming “super app,” which aims to combine Codex, ChatGPT, and the company’s Atlas web browser into a unified desktop application.”
This has meant some big internal changes:
“OpenAI’s longtime head of ChatGPT, Nick Turley, is moving to a new role to lead the company’s work on enterprise products. OpenAI says Turley, who has led ChatGPT since launch and helped grow it to more than 900 million weekly active users, will no longer work on its consumer products. Ashley Alexander, a former VP of Instagram who has been leading OpenAI’s work on health products, will now lead the company’s consumer product unit.”
The north star keeps shifting internally resulting in an ongoing series of changes:
“The changes are the latest shake-up for OpenAI as leadership aims to refocus the company on a few key product areas, including ChatGPT, Codex, and its “super app.” Last month, OpenAI announced many executive changes, including that Simo was taking a medical leave to focus on her health. OpenAI previously said Brockman would oversee product strategy in her absence. The company tells WIRED that Simo remains on medical leave, and expects her return, noting that she worked directly with Brockman on these organizational changes.”
“In the last year, OpenAI has faced increasing pressure from competitors, including Anthropic in coding domains and Google in consumer chatbots. OpenAI leaders are hoping to simplify product offerings ahead of its plan to file for an IPO, which could happen later this year.”
“Other OpenAI executives left the company entirely last month, including the head of its AI workspace for scientists, Kevin Weil; head of Sora, Bill Peebles; and its chief technology officer of enterprise applications, Srinivas Narayanan.”
All this continues to underline the extraordinary pace of change underway this AI Tech Wave.
As I’ve long recounted, Nvidia’s founder/CEO Jensen Huang has been relentlessly focused on executing on the company wide swathe of opportunities globally...
