OpenAI’s New CEO of Applications Strikes Hyper-Optimistic Tone in First Memo to Staff

CEO Entering Openai Applications, Fiji Simo, sent his first note to the staff on Monday, telling employees that the tools they develop “will unlock more opportunities for more people than any other technology in history”.

“If we get things correctly, AI can give everyone more power than ever,” Simo wrote, grouping a hyper-optimistic tone, according to a copy of the note targeted by Wired. “But I also realize that these opportunities do not appear by magic of themselves.”

Simo is currently working as CEO of Instacart. Previously, she spent a decade in Meta, where she went from the product manager to the company’s news feed to the Facebook application manager. In the past year, SIMO has been a member of the Board of Directors of OPENAI. In her memo, Simo said that she would start her role as an Openai framework “in a few weeks”. It will fall directly from the CEO Sam Altman.

Simo’s main role will be to lead the startup sales and operational teams, according to Altman’s announcement on hiring in May. She will be responsible for translating OPENAI’s research into viable products like Chatgpt, the API (which developers use to build their own tools on OPENAI technology) and business tools – and securing high -level commercial partnerships.

In memo, Simo describes his reflection on how AI will have an impact on knowledge, health, creative expression, economic freedom, time and support. She promotes some current ideas that paint a pink image of AI: personalized AI tutors, better health data, more opportunities for creative expression, automation efficiency gains and emotional support powered by AI (a very debated subject).

“My company coach Katia has been a transformer in my career, and I joked with her over the years that everyone needs a” katia in their pocket, “wrote Simo. “Personalized coaching has obviously been a privilege reserved for a few, but now with Chatgpt, it can be available for many.”

The memo can be read as a mission statement, not only for the division of applications, but for the wider bet of OpenAi: that it can create tools that feel as personal and essential as a search engine or a smartphone. In the memo, Simo positions OpenAi products as the great equalizer who eliminates the obstacles of society to knowledge, income and emotional clarity – although it really does it.

“AI can compress thousands of hours of learning in personalized ideas delivered in clear language, to the rate that suits us, reactive to our specific level of understanding,” writes Simo. “This does not only answer questions – he teaches us to ask for better. And this helps us to develop confidence in the fields that once felt opaque or intimidating, increasing both personally and professionally. ”

The memo also alludes to OpenAi’s vision for emotional companions. In the closing section, Simo writes that AI coaches “may be available every day, take advantage of their complete understanding of all aspects of your life to help you and bring your subconscious models to your conscience.”

This idea goes hand in hand with the material device of Rumors Openai created with the famous designer Jony IVE, who, according to the Wall Street Journal, will be “fully aware of the environment and the life of a user”. Altman did not move away from it entirely saying that the company hopes to build an AI similar to the film Her, Where a lonely man freshly out of a failed marriage turns to a virtual companion named Samantha. This, of course, also entered Altman in hot water, because criticisms note that the film is more a story of caution than a commercial opportunity.

The memo was very on the brand for an Openai setting: optimistic and largely based on future promises. While Altman, the boss of Simo, works to coordinate some of the most futuristic ideas, such as Stargate and the general artificial intelligence, Simo will work to twin the complicated research of the startup on real tools for consumers.

“If AI can help people really understand each other, it could be one of the biggest gifts that we could ever receive,” writes Simo.

Update: 07/21/2025 14:45 PM EDT: Wired said that Fiji Simo is still the CEO of Instacart and will officially join Openai next month.