OpenAI lost three top executives on Friday.
Loading audio narration…
Kevin Weil, who headed OpenAI’s scientific research efforts after serving as chief product officer, posted on LinkedIn that his team, OpenAI for Science, is being decentralized into other research teams and that he is leaving the company.
Bill Peebles, who headed OpenAI’s AI video app Sora, also announced his departure. Although Peebles didn’t explain why in his post, OpenAI shut down Sora last month due to cost and compute constraints.
“I’m proud of all the sleepless nights before and after the launch this team endured in order to deploy the technology in a responsible way and help steer societal norms,” Peebles wrote.
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company is unifying its business and product strategy. Prism, an AI workplace for scientists that Weil oversaw, is moving to Codex, OpenAI’s AI developer assistant, which is expanding beyond coding.
Srinivas Narayanan, OpenAI’s chief technology officer for its B2B applications, is also leaving to spend more time with his family, he wrote on LinkedIn. Narayanan’s departure is unrelated to the other two, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The shakeup comes as OpenAI narrows its focus by cutting back on “side quests” and doubling down on selling to businesses. It’s a move spearheaded by its CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, to make the company profitable as it moves towards an IPO. Simo is on medical leave for several weeks.
OpenAI has been losing some of its thunder to Anthropic, as its latest releases like Claude Code have been gaining traction with businesses and sparking fears of a ‘SaaS-pocalypse.’
Anthropic has seen funding offers valuing it at up to $800 billion, Business Insider reported, more than twice its most recent valuation in February. OpenAI was valued at $852 billion in a funding round it announced last month.
Have a tip? Contact Charles Rollet via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
