Fidji Simo steps back from OpenAI role to manage chronic illness

Simo, who spent ten years at Facebook before joining OpenAI, revealed that her struggle with the chronic condition began during her tenure at Meta. Despite being offered a full year of medical leave by Facebook years ago, she declined, citing an intense drive that made stepping away feel impossible. She recalled a specific conversation with Mark Zuckerberg, who urged her to play the long game—advice she admits she failed to heed at the time.

Recognizing that her relentless pace contributed to her current health challenges, Simo noted that grit and endurance are not the only requirements for sustaining professional impact. She described the experience of building future-facing technology at OpenAI while navigating a disabling, incurable disease as jarring. Her condition, POTS, disrupts the autonomic nervous system, causing debilitating symptoms like heart palpitations and chronic fatigue upon standing. While she shifts to an advisory capacity to focus on recovery, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed gratitude for her contributions and support for her decision, acknowledging the difficulty of her situation.