OpenAI's Former COO Brad Lightcap Departs to Start New Venture

haydenfield · x · 2026-08-12

Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s special projects lead and former COO, is departing after an eight-year stint at the AI lab. He announced plans to start "something new" and advance the mission from a different vantage point.

Lightcap's responsibilities shifted significantly over the past 18 months. His COO role expanded in March 2025 to cover global deployment and business strategy, before he stepped back from enterprise product and engineering in January 2026.

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