12 executives who left OpenAI in 2026

OpenAI continues to undergo significant leadership shake-ups, with multiple senior executives departing in 2026. Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images OpenAI's revolving door is still spinning.The ChatGPT maker has lost a string of senior leaders in 2026, including former operating chief Brad Lightcap, applications CEO Fidji Simo, chief revenue officer Denise Dresser, and executives overseeing marketing, enterprise products, science, safety, and ethics. Some left to start new ventures, while some stepped back for health reasons.The departures follow another year of turnover in 2025, when OpenAI lost its chief people and communications officers, a top researcher who went on to launch an AI-science startup, and at least seven researchers recruited by Meta.Here are the prominent OpenAI leaders who have headed for the exits in 2026. Denise Dresser Denise Dresser is leaving her role as OpenAI's chief revenue officer. Bloomberg/Getty Images OpenAI announced in August that its chief revenue officer, Denise Dresser, is leaving the company. Dresser began the position in December 2025."Denise will leave OpenAI to pursue other opportunities following a transition period, during which she will work closely with the business team to support our customers," the company wrote in a blog post.Dali Rajic will take over the role. Brad Lightcap Leigh Vogel/Getty Images The Hill & Valley Forum Brad Lightcap, who worked at OpenAI since 2018, announced his departure on X in August. Lightcap told his followers that he's leaving the startup "to start something new.""Over the last few months, I've been focused on the next horizon and what would stand in the way of mission success. I believe there are a few important new things the world will need to get right as we enter this next period," Lightcap said on X. "I'll have more to share soon, but I believe in OpenAI more than ever and am excited to help you all advance the mission from a different vantage point."Lightcap began his tenure at OpenAI as chief financial officer before transitioning to chief operating officer in 2022. In April, OpenAI said Lightcap moved to a role focused on special projects. Fidji Simo JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images In July, Fidji Simo announced she would step down from her role as OpenAI's CEO of applications and transition to a part-time advisor role. Simo, who was diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, in 2019, initially took medical leave in April."Over the last seven years, I've spent countless hours in doctors' offices, dealing with symptoms, treatments, insurance, uncertainty, and all the invisible work that comes with being a patient," Simo wrote on X in July. "Like millions of others living with chronic illness, I've experienced firsthand how difficult healthcare can be to navigate, even when you have every possible advantage."Simo became the CEO of applications in May 2025. Kevin Weil Bloomberg/Getty Images Kevin Weil announced his departure on X in April."It's been a mind-expanding two years, from Chief Product Officer to joining the research team and starting OpenAI for Science," he said.Weil first joined OpenAI in 2024 as its chief product officer. He later served as vice president of OpenAI for Science, an initiative to build an AI-powered platform to accelerate scientific discovery, starting in October 2025.Currently, Weil heads an AI science startup that sought a valuation of at least $750 million. Bill Peebles Bill Peebles worked as a research scientist at OpenAI for three years before leaving the company in April 2026. Peebles served as the head of Sora, an AI model that uses text prompts to create videos."While the original Sora ignited a huge amount of investment in video across the industry, it took the next generation of models with Sora 2 for the broader public to understand the transformation happening," Peeble said on X. "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."The video generation AI model first became available to users in December 2024. Nine months later, OpenAI released an updated model — Sora 2 — and an app meant to rival social media sites. Although the app drummed up major hype, its momentum quickly faded.OpenAI shut down Sora and its app this April. Srinivas Narayanan Srinivas Narayanan, OpenAI's chief technology officer for business applications, announced in April that he was leaving after three years."Leading the b2b engineering team has been an enormous privilege," Narayanan wrote on LinkedIn. "With the recent/upcoming product launches, this felt like the right time to step back."Narayanan said he planned to spend time with his parents in India before deciding what to do next. He joined OpenAI as vice president of engineering and led teams working on ChatGPT and the company's enterprise products. Kate Rouch Kate Rouch stepped down as OpenAI's chief marketing officer in April to focus on her recovery from breast cancer.Rouch joined OpenAI in December 2024 after more than a decade at Meta, where she served as global head of brand and product marketing. She took medical leave in 2025 while undergoing treatment, then returned to OpenAI.OpenAI previously said Rouch could eventually return in a more narrowly defined position when her health allowed, and that the company was searching for a new chief marketing officer. Barret Zoph Barret Zoph left OpenAI in June, about five months after returning to lead its enterprise AI sales efforts.Zoph initially departed OpenAI in September 2024 and cofounded Thinking Machines Lab with former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati. He returned to OpenAI in January 2026 after leaving the rival startup.OpenAI did not disclose why Zoph left. Chloé Bakalar Chloé Bakalar, OpenAI's head of ethics, left the company in July, less than a year after joining.Bakalar joined OpenAI in August 2025 after spending about six years working on responsible AI at Meta. At OpenAI, she examined questions surrounding model behavior, human relationships with AI, and whether advanced systems could warrant moral consideration. Johannes Heidecke Johannes Heidecke (right). Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images Johannes Heidecke, who led OpenAI's safety systems team, left the company in July amid a reorganization of its safety operations.Heidecke joined OpenAI in 2021 and took charge of safety systems in 2024. His team evaluated models for potentially dangerous capabilities and developed safeguards intended to prevent harmful behavior.Following his departure, OpenAI placed its safety teams under Mia Glaese, its vice president of research and safety. Joshua Achiam Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images Joshua Achiam, OpenAI's chief futurist, left the company in July after nearly nine years.Achiam previously led OpenAI's mission alignment team, which was tasked with helping the company uphold its founding goal of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits humanity. OpenAI disbanded that team in early 2026 and moved Achiam into the chief futurist role. Caitlin Kalinowski Caitlin Kalinowski, who led OpenAI's robotics and consumer hardware team, resigned in March over concerns about the company's agreement with the Pentagon."Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got," Kalinowski wrote on LinkedIn. She later said her objection was primarily about governance and that the agreement had been announced before its safeguards were fully defined.Kalinowski joined OpenAI in November 2024 after leading Meta's augmented-reality hardware efforts, including its Orion glasses project. OpenAI said its Pentagon agreement prohibited domestic surveillance and the use of autonomous weapons. Read next Lauren Edmonds is an award-winning reporter on the Business News team. When news isn't breaking, she covers personal finance, kitchen-table economics, and paths to financial freedom, including investing, real estate, side hustles, and small business. She also writes about guaranteed and universal basic income programs in the United States.Lauren has also covered lifestyle and entertainment, digital culture, and more. She has a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and resides in New York City.Do you have an interesting story to tell? You can reach Lauren at ledmonds@businessinsider.com or on Signal at ledmonds0.07.Popular StoriesNetflix wants to be Disney when it grows up Why Hollywood is paying this 17-year-old up to $20,000 to boost film trailers with TikTok editsHere's all the free money Trump's talked about giving Americans during his second term — and where it all standsA 17-year-old earned $72,000 after investing his e-commerce profits into stocks. Here's why he bet on the tech industry.Lawmakers float a nationwide basic income experiment that would cover the cost of a 2-bedroom apartmentNearly 30,000 Americans have received about $335 million in basic income. Here are 5 takeaways. Americans ditch suffocating healthcare costs and divisive politics to retire in Italy: 'It's the way they approach life'From 'road-schooling' to gas that costs $500, this family of 4 shares what it's like living in a solar-powered Greyhound bus Leadership