From a decade at Facebook to OpenAI’s applications CEO: Fidji Simo steps back for her health

Fidji Simo spent a decade in several leadership roles at Facebook before going on to lead OpenAI’s applications business as CEO. Now, she is stepping back from that role to focus on her health, announcing in a social media post that she is moving into a part-time advisory position at OpenAI.

Simo said she has been living with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, for the past seven years, a chronic illness that affects the body’s autonomic nervous system and can cause fatigue, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, headaches and fainting. She described it as ‘jarring’ to spend her days helping build the future of AI while managing a disabling illness that currently has no cure.

She revealed she became ill while at Facebook, and that doctors, friends, colleagues and loved ones encouraged her over the years to slow down. Two years after she got sick, Facebook offered her a full year of medical leave. ‘I didn’t even pause to consider it. I immediately said no,’ she wrote.

She recalled that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg advised her at the time to ‘play the long game,’ adding, ‘I wish I had listened.’ Simo said she now understands that the same determination that helped her succeed in her career also made it difficult for her to step away from work.

Simo said her immediate priority is recovery, while adding that she continues to believe technology has the potential to solve deeply human problems. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to her announcement on X, writing: ‘i am really sad about this and very grateful for all fidji has done for openai, and even grateful for her friendship and who she is as a person. we all wish her the best for a speedy recovery. this sucks.’