• by Laurie Sullivan , July 21, 2025

It was her first memo to staff and a first blog post on OpenAI's website. Instacart CEO Fidji Simo will not begin her new role as OpenAI CEO of Applications until mid August, but took to the AI company's web site to introduce herself, sharing some concepts, beliefs and thoughts.

She will lead one-third of the company and report directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Simo will remain with Instacart through the period of the company's earnings report in early August, but shared her excitement for AI, and her beliefs in the technology -- how it can support creative expression, economic freedom, and allow people to regain control of time. In other words, AI can help all types of businesses such as health and scientific and medical experimentation.

"While leading Instacart, I saw firsthand how technology can shift perceptions and behaviors around time," Simo wrote.

Her thoughts were published today in a post on OpenAI's blog. "In 2012, the idea of paying someone to shop for your groceries felt like a luxury, something reserved for the ultra-wealthy. But with the right product design, logistics, and pricing, we made it accessible and indispensable for everyday families."

Created as part of Altman's reorganization announcement in May, Simo will focus on products and growth in her new role. Altman will continue to oversee research, computing, and applications, but would focus more on research and compute, including safety systems.

AI will unlock all types of opportunities. “If we get this right, AI can give everyone more power,” Simo wrote. “But I also realize those opportunities won’t magically appear on their own.”

She added that a "very major technology shift can expand access to power — the power to make better decisions, shape the world around us, and control our own destiny in new ways," she wrote. "But it can also further concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few — usually people who already have money, credentials, and connections."