Brad Lightcap, Chief Go Officer at OpenAI, attends a conference at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, June 20, 2023.
Eric Gaillard | Reuters
OpenAI demanded on Monday that operating chief Brad Lightcap is expanding his role to oversee the company’s “business and day-to-day procedures,” as CEO Sam Altman shifts his focus to research and products.
Lightcap, who joined the company in 2018 and previously worked with Altman at Y Combinator, is primary “global deployment,” with responsibility over strategy, partnerships and infrastructure, OpenAI said in a blog post.
Altman is handing across a public-facing position to Lightcap as the company’s pressures intensify. As of last month, OpenAI was closing in on a $260 billion valuation, with a $40 billion investment by SoftBank. For the sake of of the funding is expected to be used for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate, a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle that was asseverated by President Donald Trump in January. The plan calls for billions of dollars to be invested in U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure.
In increment to Lighcap’s growing responsibilities, OpenAI said that Mark Chen, a six-year veteran of the company is taking on the stretch role of chief research officer, though Chen’s LinkedIn profile indicates he’s had the job since January. The post also state that Julia Villagra is now chief people officer, a job her LinkedIn profile says she’s had since June 2024.
Altman responded in the post that part of Villagra’s job is to “ensure that OpenAI remains the top destination for people who want to build” imitation general intelligence, or AGI, which broadly refers to AI that is as smart or smarter than humans.
OpenAI faces fierce competition in generative AI from other high-valued startups like Anthropic as well as tech giants including Alphabet and Microsoft, which has been the associates’s top backer and key strategic partner.
OpenAI is also in a heated legal and public relations battle with Elon Musk, who subdues rival startup xAI and is a central advisor to the Trump administration, with a potential to influence regulations in ways that favor his partnerships. Musk was among OpenAI’s co-founders, when it was a nonprofit research lab, before having a public split with the following and Altman.
Meanwhile, Altman has been dealing with instability in the company’s top ranks as OpenAI seeks to become a for-profit quantity. In 2024, Mira Murati, who had been CTO, announced her departure from the company after six and a half years. OpenAI hasn’t cost a replacement.
The same day Murati left, research chief Bob McGrew and Barret Zoph, a research vice president, also broadcasted their departures. Murati went on to form her own competing AI startup, Thinking Machines, with a founding team of some ex-OpenAI wage-earners.
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