Latest news with #Simo
Bloomberg
12-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
ChatGPT Should Reach Billions of Users, OpenAI's Simo Says
OpenAI's incoming head of applications, Fidji Simo, said she sees growing ChatGPT's customer base to billions of users. 'ChatGPT reaches hundreds of millions of people, but fundamentally, AI should change lives for everyone,' Simo said, speaking remotely at VivaTech summit in Paris on Thursday. 'We need to be reaching billions.'
The Star
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
From fishing family to Big Tech: French CEO takes on Silicon Valley
As OpenAI's number two, Simo will free up CEO Altman to focus on research and infrastructure while she tackles the company's operational challenges. — AFP NEW YORK: At just 39 years old, Fidji Simo is poised to become OpenAI's second-in-command after leaving her mark at two other major tech firms, including Meta. Reporting directly to CEO Sam Altman, the move to the ChatGPT-maker represents the latest chapter in a career that has taken Simo from a fishing family in France's Mediterranean port of Sete to the heights of Silicon Valley. As the current CEO of grocery delivery platform Instacart, she cuts a unique profile: a French woman in the male-dominated American tech landscape -- who resists advice to blend in. "I can put all my energy trying to be someone else or I can be myself and pour all of that energy into what I can create," she told CNBC in February. This philosophy will likely be on display when she appears Thursday at the VivaTech conference in Paris. Raised in Sete, Simo attended the elite HEC business school before joining eBay in 2006, first in France then in California. "People expect a very business-like story for why I decided to come to the US. It wasn't. The American Dream was on TV every night and that was an incredibly appealing thing," she said. 'Never Intimidated' In 2011, Simo joined Facebook, now Meta. She was given responsibility for video and monetisation in 2014, a role she considers the defining moment of her career. Simo championed the company's pivot to video, which became central to Meta's strategy despite initial internal scepticism. "She never let herself be intimidated," recalled David Marcus, who worked at Meta alongside Simo and now serves as CEO of online payment company Lightspark. "She had an ability to challenge Mark (Zuckerberg) and push him, when others would have hesitated." Joining Instacart in 2021, Simo inherited a company that had been bleeding money for a decade. Under her leadership, the grocery delivery platform achieved profitability in 2022 through aggressive diversification: data monetisation, expanded retail partnerships and a robust advertising business. Now Simo faces her biggest test yet. As OpenAI's number two, she'll free up CEO Altman to focus on research and infrastructure while she tackles the company's operational challenges. Despite being one of history's most highly funded startups and ChatGPT's phenomenal success, OpenAI is burning cash at an alarming rate. The company has also weathered significant leadership turnover, including Altman's own brief ouster and reinstatement in 2023, raising questions about management stability. But French investor Julien Codorniou, who worked alongside Simo at Facebook, said she will more than rise to the occasion. "Fidji's arrival is a declaration of ambition by OpenAI," he said. – AFP
France 24
12-06-2025
- Business
- France 24
From fishing family to Big Tech: French CEO takes on Silicon Valley
Reporting directly to CEO Sam Altman, the move to the ChatGPT-maker represents the latest chapter in a career that has taken Simo from a fishing family in France's Mediterranean port of Sete to the heights of Silicon Valley. As the current CEO of grocery delivery platform Instacart, she cuts a unique profile: a French woman in the male-dominated American tech landscape -- who resists advice to blend in. "I can put all my energy trying to be someone else or I can be myself and pour all of that energy into what I can create," she told CNBC in February. This philosophy will likely be on display when she appears Thursday at the VivaTech conference in Paris. Raised in Sete, Simo attended the elite HEC business school before joining eBay in 2006, first in France then in California. "People expect a very business-like story for why I decided to come to the US. It wasn't. The American Dream was on TV every night and that was an incredibly appealing thing," she said. 'Never Intimidated' In 2011, Simo joined Facebook, now Meta. She was given responsibility for video and monetization in 2014, a role she considers the defining moment of her career. Simo championed the company's pivot to video, which became central to Meta's strategy despite initial internal skepticism. "She never let herself be intimidated," recalled David Marcus, who worked at Meta alongside Simo and now serves as CEO of online payment company Lightspark. "She had an ability to challenge Mark (Zuckerberg) and push him, when others would have hesitated." Joining Instacart in 2021, Simo inherited a company that had been bleeding money for a decade. Under her leadership, the grocery delivery platform achieved profitability in 2022 through aggressive diversification: data monetization, expanded retail partnerships and a robust advertising business. Now Simo faces her biggest test yet. As OpenAI's number two, she'll free up CEO Altman to focus on research and infrastructure while she tackles the company's operational challenges. Despite being one of history's most highly funded startups and ChatGPT's phenomenal success, OpenAI is burning cash at an alarming rate. The company has also weathered significant leadership turnover, including Altman's own brief ouster and reinstatement in 2023, raising questions about management stability. But French investor Julien Codorniou, who worked alongside Simo at Facebook, said she will more than rise to the occasion.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From fishing family to Big Tech: French CEO takes on Silicon Valley
At just 39 years old, Fidji Simo is poised to become OpenAI's second-in-command after leaving her mark at two other major tech firms, including Meta. Reporting directly to CEO Sam Altman, the move to the ChatGPT-maker represents the latest chapter in a career that has taken Simo from a fishing family in France's Mediterranean port of Sete to the heights of Silicon Valley. As the current CEO of grocery delivery platform Instacart, she cuts a unique profile: a French woman in the male-dominated American tech landscape -- who resists advice to blend in. "I can put all my energy trying to be someone else or I can be myself and pour all of that energy into what I can create," she told CNBC in February. This philosophy will likely be on display when she appears Thursday at the VivaTech conference in Paris. Raised in Sete, Simo attended the elite HEC business school before joining eBay in 2006, first in France then in California. "People expect a very business-like story for why I decided to come to the US. It wasn't. The American Dream was on TV every night and that was an incredibly appealing thing," she said. - 'Never Intimidated' - In 2011, Simo joined Facebook, now Meta. She was given responsibility for video and monetization in 2014, a role she considers the defining moment of her career. Simo championed the company's pivot to video, which became central to Meta's strategy despite initial internal skepticism. "She never let herself be intimidated," recalled David Marcus, who worked at Meta alongside Simo and now serves as CEO of online payment company Lightspark. "She had an ability to challenge Mark (Zuckerberg) and push him, when others would have hesitated." Joining Instacart in 2021, Simo inherited a company that had been bleeding money for a decade. Under her leadership, the grocery delivery platform achieved profitability in 2022 through aggressive diversification: data monetization, expanded retail partnerships and a robust advertising business. Now Simo faces her biggest test yet. As OpenAI's number two, she'll free up CEO Altman to focus on research and infrastructure while she tackles the company's operational challenges. Despite being one of history's most highly funded startups and ChatGPT's phenomenal success, OpenAI is burning cash at an alarming rate. The company has also weathered significant leadership turnover, including Altman's own brief ouster and reinstatement in 2023, raising questions about management stability. But French investor Julien Codorniou, who worked alongside Simo at Facebook, said she will more than rise to the occasion. "Fidji's arrival is a declaration of ambition by OpenAI," he said. tu/arp/acb/des Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI Hires Instacart CEO Fidji Simo as Head of Applications
Instacart's CEO and chair Fidji Simo is jumping ship to join Sam Altman's inner circle at OpenAI, where she'll be the AI firm's head of applications, the company announced in its blog post. Simo, who's expected to depart Instacart in the coming months, will report directly to Altman, who will continue to serve as OpenAI's CEO. "Applications brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world, and Fidji is uniquely qualified to lead this group," Altman writes in the blog post. The move comes just a few days after OpenAI scrapped plans for a major governance overhaul, dialing back its plan to transition to a for-profit structure, which will likely put a ceiling on Altman's power. Meanwhile, OpenAI is reportedly building its own X-like social network, according to The Verge. OpenAI Finds Its First CMO In Ex-Coinbase Marketing Chief Kate Rouch Simo is not new to OpenAI. She joined the AI firm's board last year as part of the trio of directors appointed after Altman's dramatic reinstatement as CEO, (he was ousted in late 2023). Simo took the top job at Instacart in 2021 after a decade at Meta, where she played a key role in growing Facebook's app. "In her new role, Fidji will focus on enabling our 'traditional' company functions to scale as we enter a next phase of growth," the blog reads. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
