Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, has been the driving force behind a sharp strategic pivot at the company, pushing OpenAI to shut down its Sora video app, avoid building social media products, and instead acquire a media property. The Information reports that Simo spearheaded these moves as part of a broader effort to refocus OpenAI on high-impact enterprise tools and ditch what she calls “side quests.”
The picture that emerges: Simo is reshaping OpenAI’s consumer strategy from the inside, and doing it fast.
What happened
- Sora shut down on March 24, 2026. Just six months after launch, the AI video tool was burning an estimated $5.4 billion annually in compute costs while generating roughly $2.1 million in lifetime revenue. Downloads had dropped 66% from November 2025 to February 2026.
- Social media products shelved. According to The Information’s reporting by Stephanie Palazzolo, Simo pushed OpenAI to steer clear of social media features entirely. This is a notable call from a former Meta executive who ran the Facebook app.
- TBPN acquired on April 2, a daily live tech talk show hosted by entrepreneurs John Coogan and Jordi Hays. It’s OpenAI’s first-ever media acquisition.
“The standard communications playbook just doesn’t apply to us. We’re not a typical company. We’re driving a really big technological shift.”
— Fidji Simo, internal memo
Why this matters
Simo joined OpenAI in August 2025, and she’s already making the kind of product-killing decisions that define a company’s direction for years.
The Sora shutdown is the clearest signal yet that OpenAI is done chasing consumer hype. A product that once had Disney planning a $1 billion stake and licensing deal got three sentences on X and a 30-minute heads-up to Disney before going dark. That’s not a soft sunset. That’s a strategic amputation.
The social media decision is equally telling. OpenAI had the user base, the AI capabilities, and the brand recognition to build social features into ChatGPT. Simo, who literally ran Facebook’s main app, looked at that opportunity and said no. When someone with her background at Meta tells an AI company to stay out of social media, it’s worth paying attention.
The TBPN play
Instead of social media, Simo chose owned media. The TBPN acquisition came shortly after OpenAI’s chief communications officer Hannah Wong departed, according to someone close to Simo cited by The Information. Rather than hiring a new comms chief and running the standard PR playbook, Simo went a different direction: buy a show, control the narrative directly.
It’s an unconventional move for an AI company, but the logic tracks. OpenAI faces constant scrutiny on safety, competition, and corporate governance. A talk show gives them a platform to frame those conversations on their own terms.
What comes next
Simo’s playbook is now clear: cut costs on flashy consumer products that don’t generate revenue, double down on enterprise and productivity tools, and build direct media channels instead of relying on social platforms or traditional PR.
For the AI industry, this marks a turning point. The company that launched the consumer AI wave with ChatGPT is now explicitly pulling back from consumer experimentation. If OpenAI, with its resources and reach, doesn’t see a path to monetizing social or video generation, that sends a strong signal to every startup building in those spaces.
The full details are available in Stephanie Palazzolo’s reporting at The Information.