OpenAI Joins Hands with Apple, Appoints New CFO and CPO

OpenAI, the developer of 'ChatGPT' that announced a partnership with Apple, has simultaneously recruited a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Product Officer (CPO).

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 10th (local time), OpenAI announced through a blog post that Sarah Friar, former CEO of Nextdoor, has been appointed as the new CFO. Friar is co-chair of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and a financial expert who has worked at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Salesforce, and served as CFO of Square.

Kevin Weil, former President of Product and Sales at Planet Labs, has been recruited as the CPO. Weil, who has held product development executive roles at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, will lead product research at OpenAI that benefits both consumers and developers.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, expressed his expectations, saying, "Friar and Weil bring deep experience that will enable OpenAI to scale, set strategies for the next phase of growth, and secure the resources necessary for the team’s continuous expansion."

OpenAI has recently strengthened its management amid fierce competition among companies in AI technology development. This move is not unrelated to the continued departure of key personnel following the so-called Altman ousting incident. In May, Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, left the company. Economic media CNBC reported that in this situation, OpenAI has been reinforcing its management, and in May, a group composed of current and former OpenAI employees issued an open letter expressing concerns about the rapid development of AI.

Meanwhile, on the same day, OpenAI announced its partnership with Apple. As a result, ChatGPT will be integrated into Apple’s voice assistant Siri. CEO Altman stated in a press release, "We are excited to collaborate with Apple to bring ChatGPT to users in new ways," adding, "Together with Apple, we will make it easier for people to benefit from AI."