Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's longtime chief operating officer, leaves to start a new venture

Brad Lightcap, one of the few early executives still at OpenAI, is stepping down to pursue a new project. In an internal memo posted Tuesday, Lightcap told staff it is hard for him to leave but he chooses to move forward. He joined OpenAI in 2018 as chief financial officer (CFO), a role he held for four years, then served as chief operating officer (COO) from 2022 until early this year. Following a round of senior leadership changes, he was moved into a new managerial role responsible for special projects. Before OpenAI, Lightcap worked alongside chief executive Sam Altman at the startup accelerator Y-Combinator.

In his farewell note, Lightcap described building the company's operational backbone from scratch. He said he founded the first operations and business units — finance, legal, human resources, enterprise security, government affairs and partnerships — and that watching those teams mature under capable leaders was the most rewarding part of his tenure. He hinted at a new business direction but gave no concrete details about the venture he is now pursuing.

Lightcap explained his departure by saying that in recent months he focused his thoughts on the challenges facing the world in the next stage. He said several new and essential problems will need solving in the near term and promised to share more soon. At the same time, he stressed that his confidence in OpenAI has only grown and that he expects to help advance its mission from an outside, different vantage point. He did not specify in what way he plans to do this or with whom he plans to collaborate in the future.

The exit comes at a sensitive moment as OpenAI prepares for a globally significant initial public offering (IPO), a process accompanied by a broad overhaul of its top management. In July, Fidji Simo, the company's number-two executive who led artificial general intelligence (AGI) development, announced her planned departure. Other recent exits include executives from less central fields such as Bill Peebles, who headed the now-paused video generator Sora, and Kevin Weil, who served as chief financial officer of the scientific division.