OpenAI is undergoing another major leadership change, with co-founder and CEO Sam Altman shifting his focus to research and product development, while other executives take on expanded roles in business operations.

“OpenAI has grown a lot,” Mr. Altman wrote in the announcement. “We remain focused on the same core–pursuing frontier AI research that accelerates human progress–but we now also deliver products used by hundreds of millions of people. This real-world usage–in science, business, education, and more–helps make our research better and helps begin to deliver on our mission of AGI that benefits all of humanity.”

Executive Changes

With Altman shifting his focus to the technical side, OpenAI is restructuring into a for-profit public benefit corporation, and three key executives are stepping into expanded roles:

• Mark Chen, formerly Senior VP of Research, is now the Chief Research Officer. He will lead scientific progress and ensure OpenAI remains at the forefront of AI capability and safety.
• Julia Villagra has been promoted to Chief People Officer. She will focus on making OpenAI the top destination for talent working on AGI.
• Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's Chief Operating Officer, will now oversee day-to-day operations, including business strategy, partnerships, infrastructure, and operational efficiency.

Executive Departures

These changes follow the departure of key executives, including former Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, who has left to start her own AI company. Former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever and co-founder John Schulman have also left in recent months.

New AI Models Announced

In addition to leadership changes, OpenAI also introduced new speech-to-text and text-to-speech models in its API. These models are designed to power more advanced and customizable voice agents, with applications in customer service, meeting transcription, and more.