Another OpenAI executive takes off

又一位 OpenAI 高管离职

Brad Lightcap, special projects lead and the company’s former COO, will be departing. OpenAI 特别项目负责人、公司前首席运营官（COO）Brad Lightcap 即将离职。

Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s special projects lead and the company’s former COO, announced his departure after an eight-year stint at the AI lab. In an internal memo he later posted to X, Lightcap told colleagues he’d be starting “something new.” OpenAI 特别项目负责人、公司前首席运营官 Brad Lightcap 在这家 AI 实验室工作八年后宣布离职。在一份随后发布于 X 平台的内部备忘录中，Lightcap 告诉同事们，他将开启“新的征程”。

“Over the last few months, I’ve been focused on the next horizon and what would stand in the way of mission success,” Lightcap wrote. “I believe there are a few important new things the world will need to get right as we enter this next period. I … am excited to help you all advance the mission from a different vantage point.” He added that he’d still be around for the next few weeks. “在过去的几个月里，我一直专注于下一个地平线，以及什么会阻碍使命的达成，”Lightcap 写道。“我相信，当我们进入下一个阶段时，世界需要正确处理几件重要的新事物。我……很兴奋能从不同的角度帮助大家推进这一使命。”他补充说，在接下来的几周里，他仍会留在公司。

Lightcap’s role has changed a lot over the past year and a half. In March 2025, his role as COO expanded to include overseeing OpenAI’s “business and day-to-day operations,” heading up global deployment and “focusing on business strategy, key partnerships, infrastructure, and operational excellence to maximize the impact of our research.” Then in January 2026, Lightcap took a step back from leading the company’s enterprise push as far as product and engineering but stayed in charge of commercial functions. (Embattled AI executive Barret Zoph took over enterprise before departing about five months later.) In April, Lightcap officially stepped down from his COO role, transitioning into a new one leading the team’s “special projects” and reporting to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Denise Dresser, the company’s CRO, took over a significant portion of his former role. 在过去的一年半里，Lightcap 的角色发生了很大变化。2025 年 3 月，他的 COO 职责范围扩大，开始负责监督 OpenAI 的“业务和日常运营”，领导全球部署，并“专注于业务战略、关键合作伙伴关系、基础设施和卓越运营，以最大化我们研究的影响力”。随后在 2026 年 1 月，Lightcap 不再负责公司在产品和工程方面的企业级业务推进，但仍负责商业职能。（深陷困境的 AI 高管 Barret Zoph 接管了企业业务，约五个月后离职。）今年 4 月，Lightcap 正式卸任 COO 一职，转而担任领导团队“特别项目”的新角色，并向 OpenAI 首席执行官 Sam Altman 汇报。公司首席营收官（CRO）Denise Dresser 接管了他此前大部分的职责。

It’s not the only high-profile departure from OpenAI’s executive team in recent months: OpenAI’s AGI chief, Fidji Simo, officially departed her role in July after a stint on medical leave, and in April, CMO Kate Rouch also stepped down for health reasons. There’s also been a significant amount of company reorganizing and C-suite changes, with company president Greg Brockman taking control of the product side of things, and the company vowing to cut out “side quests” in favor of key revenue drivers as it prepares to go public over the coming year. 这并不是近几个月来 OpenAI 高管团队中唯一引人注目的离职事件：OpenAI 的 AGI（通用人工智能）负责人 Fidji Simo 在休病假一段时间后，于 7 月正式离职；今年 4 月，首席营销官（CMO）Kate Rouch 也因健康原因辞职。此外，公司还进行了大量的重组和高层变动，公司总裁 Greg Brockman 接管了产品端事务，公司也承诺在未来一年准备上市的过程中，将削减“支线任务”，转而专注于关键的创收驱动因素。

“It always amazes me how quickly the world has adopted our tools and rallied behind our mission,” Lightcap wrote. “I hope we will continue to earn their trust.” “世界如此迅速地采用我们的工具并支持我们的使命，这总是让我感到惊叹，”Lightcap 写道。“我希望我们能继续赢得他们的信任。”