Fidji Simo’s Mission to Make ChatGPT Essential—And Profitable
OpenAI’s leadership structure has always stood apart from Silicon Valley norms, but this year it became more unconventional than ever. The organization now boasts two CEOs: Sam Altman, who oversees research, models, and compute strategy—and Fidji Simo, the newly appointed CEO of Applications, who manages everything tied to OpenAI’s consumer products, revenue, and business growth.
Simo, a former Meta executive and Instacart CEO known for scaling massive consumer platforms, joined OpenAI during one of the most aggressive expansion periods in the company’s history. From sovereign AI partnerships to hardware development, proprietary chips, and enterprise tools, OpenAI is moving fast in dozens of directions simultaneously. And Simo’s job is to turn all that innovation into products the world uses—and pays for.
But she’s doing it largely from her home in Los Angeles, not the San Francisco headquarters. A recurrence of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) makes it difficult for her to stand for long periods, so she works remotely and communicates constantly through Slack, where employees say she’s more present than most leaders on-site.
“Being online from 8 am to midnight every day and responding within minutes makes people feel like I’m right there,” Simo says. “They know they can reach me instantly.” Employees confirm she jumps into channels, asks questions, and shares ideas with striking frequency in OpenAI’s famously Slack-heavy culture.
A High-Risk Job With High Expectations
Simo stepped into the role at a moment when OpenAI is expanding faster than ever, but also under intense public scrutiny. With competitors like Google, Meta, Anthropic, and startups founded by OpenAI alumni moving rapidly, the company’s future success hinges on turning research breakthroughs into user-friendly, revenue-generating products.
Her mandate is straightforward but daunting: make ChatGPT indispensable.
“The intelligence of our models is far ahead of how much people are using them,” Simo says. “My job is to close that gap.”
Since August, she has overseen:
- Pulse, a personalized assistant integrated with users’ schedules, history, and preferences
- A new jobs platform offering AI certification and training
- Heightened mental health safeguards within ChatGPT
- Preparation for future advertising features in the free tier
And she is expected to lead the design of monetization systems for the company’s future consumer products.
A Reputation Built in Silicon Valley
Simo grew up in Sète, a fishing town in southern France, and built her career in the United States scaling some of the world’s largest consumer technologies. At Meta, she ran the Facebook app; at Instacart, she took the company public. Her arrival at OpenAI surprised those outside the Valley but not those familiar with her track record.
Her deep product instincts, willingness to take risks, and ability to commercialize large-scale technologies made her an ideal fit for a company trying to bring advanced AI directly to consumers.
A New Focus on Mental Health and Jobs
One of Simo’s earliest priorities was addressing the social impact of OpenAI’s technology—something she says Meta did not anticipate quickly enough.
“The risks here are very real,” she says. “Mental health and jobs were my first initiatives because both are immediate and profound areas of disruption.”
OpenAI has since implemented:
- Improved detection of harmful or unstable mental health statements
- Parental controls and protections for minors
- Age prediction technology to prevent misuse by teens
But Simo emphasizes that no system stays finished.
“With 800 million weekly users, you will always have people in moments of crisis,” she notes. “There’s no end point—only ongoing refinement.”
One of the biggest challenges is detecting nuanced issues like manic episodes. “A person saying they feel amazing and haven’t slept might sound positive. A psychologist sees a warning sign. We’re working with practitioners to build models that understand these subtleties.”
The Path to Profitability
OpenAI may be one of the world’s most valuable startups, but it still loses billions each year. Simo’s job includes turning ChatGPT into a profitable platform that justifies the cost of running—and scaling—massive AI models.
Her vision: ChatGPT becomes a universal digital helper.
“In the past, only the wealthy had a team of experts—a travel agent, financial advisor, stylist, researcher,” Simo says. “ChatGPT can give everyone that team. That’s enormous value, and we’ve barely begun to deliver it.”
On the enterprise side, she sees even greater potential.
“Selling API and ChatGPT Enterprise is just the beginning. Every industry will need AI agents. There’s so much to build, and we can empower third parties to help build it.”
The limiting factor, she insists, is compute.
“The real risk is not scaling our compute. We have many products ready that we simply can’t launch to everyone yet.”
Pulse: A Glimpse of ChatGPT’s Future
Pulse, currently available to Pro users, is one example of the future Simo envisions.
For her personally, it’s become indispensable:
- It monitors new medical studies related to her condition.
- It summarizes industry news instantly.
- It offers ideas tailored to her family, including suggestions for her husband’s chocolate business.
“That level of personalization is what makes ChatGPT genuinely useful,” she says.
Leadership While Managing Chronic Illness
Simo has been open about her health challenges, which intensified after a risky pregnancy and multiple surgeries. Her decision to share her condition with the entire company on day one was intentional.
“With invisible illnesses, people assume you’re fine,” she says. “I told them exactly what I deal with—when I can be in the office and when I need to work reclined. It was risky, but it built trust.”
Her condition forces her to be intentional and efficient, something she believes has shaped her leadership for the better.
“Constraints make you more creative as a leader,” Simo says. “It’s made me hyper-focused on what actually matters.”
The Future of Ads in ChatGPT
One of her most delicate responsibilities is designing how—and whether—advertising will appear in ChatGPT’s free tier. Despite speculation, she says the focus for now is ensuring the product’s commerce experience is excellent before any ads are introduced.
“We’re not recommending paid products when someone asks for shopping advice,” she confirms.
Any future ad system will require a fundamentally different approach to data.
“The problem with ads is rarely the ad itself—it’s the use of data behind it. Whatever we build must respect user data to a far higher standard.”
Navigating Growth, Criticism, and New Media
OpenAI’s rapid expansion has prompted worries the company is moving too fast. Simo says her job is to prevent overreach by hiring exceptional leaders for each initiative.
Every area of software, she argues, will eventually be reinvented with AI.
“We need ambition to match the scale of opportunity,” she says.
She also defends early criticism of Sora, OpenAI’s video app, noting that new media always begins by imitating what exists before evolving into its own form.
“Some content may look simple now, but the medium is raising the floor of creativity. It gives people access to tools they never had.”
The Jobs Question
Simo believes AI will create massive new job categories even as it disrupts others. That’s why she launched OpenAI’s certification program aimed at preparing 10 million workers for AI-driven roles.
“We’re doing our part, but governments and companies will need to act too,” she says.
On AI Safety and Existential Risks
Does she fear AI could threaten humanity?
“I didn’t come in with that fear, but we take the risk seriously and work constantly to prevent it.”
Would She Ever Take Sam Altman’s Job?
“Let’s be clear: What Sam does, I cannot do,” she laughs. “There is more than a decade of work just in my scope. And we need both of us. This company is too big and too important for anyone to do it alone.”
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