A continuous string of high-level executive departures is hitting OpenAI as the company prepares for an initial public offering (IPO).

Brad Lightcap, former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of OpenAI, announced via social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on the 11th (local time) that he is leaving the company to start a new business venture.

Reflecting on his departure, former COO Lightcap stated, "I am sharing the news that I am leaving OpenAI to start something new."

He noted that he had spent the past few months focusing on the mission to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of all humanity and examining the obstacles standing in its way, hinting at entering an AGI-related business by adding, "I believe there are several critical challenges the world needs to properly address."

Former COO Lightcap joined OpenAI in 2018, having previously worked with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the venture capital firm Y Combinator.

Since then, he built out most of OpenAI's operational and business divisions, including finance, legal, human resources, corporate security, go-to-market, and partnerships.

In April, he stepped down from his role as COO to transition to leading "special projects," launching the "OpenAI Deployment Company," a consulting joint venture that directly dispatches engineers to enterprises to build AI systems.

Former COO Lightcap's resignation announcement came just a day after news broke of the departure of Chloe Bakalar, OpenAI's dedicated ethics lead.

Prior to this, Fidji Simo, who led business divisions at OpenAI, resigned last month to receive medical treatment for a chronic illness, while Head of Safety Systems Johannes Heidecke and futurist Joshua Achiam also left the company.

In April, executives leading the video generation model "Sora" team, Srinivas Narayanan, the technical lead for the B2B applications division, and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Kate Rouch also resigned.

Because former COO Lightcap had been handling separate projects exclusively since stepping down from the COO post, his departure is expected to have a relatively minor direct impact on the company.

However, as veteran figures who laid the company's early foundations are exiting during the sensitive period of OpenAI preparing for a public listing, concerns have also been raised regarding potential internal and external turbulence.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)