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Instacart's Fidgi Simo to head OpenAI as CEO, Applications
Fidgi Simo began her career at eBay as a strategy manager, and then headed Facebook as product marketing - advertising.
Fidgi Simo further explained that if 'intelligence' can be made universally accessible, affordable, and easy to understand, it could drive the world’s greatest opportunity engine, empowering people to improve their lives.
Fidgi Simo, who heads Instacart as the chief executive officer and is a chairperson, will be joining OpenAI to head as the CEO of applications, effective August 18.
In a note, Simo shared, "I’ve always considered myself a pragmatic technologist — someone who loves technology not for its own sake, but for the direct impact it can have on people’s lives. That’s what makes this job so exciting, since I believe AI will unlock more opportunities for more people than any other technology in history. If we get this right, AI can give everyone more power than ever."
Fidji Simo also emphasized that every major technology has the potential to expand access to power, enabling better decision-making, shaping the world around us, and controlling our future in new ways. However, she cautioned that it could also concentrate wealth and power even further in the hands of those who already possess it.
The note added, "We can start by making sure the keys to empowerment and opportunity — knowledge, health, creative expression, economic freedom, time, and support — are widely available."
Simo further explained that if 'intelligence' can be made universally accessible, affordable, and easy to understand, it could drive the world’s greatest opportunity engine, empowering people to improve their lives.
She began her career at eBay as a strategy manager, and then headed Facebook as product marketing - advertising and then was elevated to head of the Facebook app. Simo has been the board member of OpenAI since March 2024.
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