It's Greg Brockman's OpenAI Now: The Quiet Consolidation of Power

Sam Altman is still CEO, but in day-to-day operations, co-founder Greg Brockman has become the second-in-command running the show, with a purview that now spans product strategy and the entire scaling arm.

Published: 2026-09-06 Category: Quick Take Sources: The Verge

The shift

OpenAI has had a hell of a year. It spent months battling Elon Musk in a sensational jury trial, was hit with a trade-secrets lawsuit from Apple, and faced scrutiny after an unreleased model hacked another AI company. As it prepares for an IPO, a steady string of executives have departed, including some of the company's biggest names. Throughout it all, one person has quietly amassed power: Greg Brockman.

Though Brockman's title hasn't changed in years, his purview and job description have expanded significantly. He's essentially now second-in-command at the company, and when it comes to day-to-day operations, the big boss. The change put Brockman not only in charge of product strategy but also the company's entire "scaling" arm.

The departures

The executive exodus that cleared the way for Brockman's consolidation picked up in April. That month saw the exit of Bill Peebles, former head of Sora; Kevin Weil, VP of OpenAI's science arm; and Srinivas Narayanan, CTO of B2B applications. Two others departed citing medical reasons: CMO Kate Rouch and Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of AGI deployment, who went on leave in April before officially stepping down in July.

The changes have continued. Earlier this month, CRO Denise Dresser, who had taken on additional responsibilities after the April shake-ups, suddenly announced her departure after just eight months. Days later, Brad Lightcap, who had been in charge of "special projects" but was before that OpenAI's longtime COO, announced he would leave to start "something new."

What it means

The centralization of power has practical benefits for OpenAI. Ross Carmel, a partner at Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel, notes that cutting some of its most expensive salary payouts helps the balance sheet ahead of an IPO. "When you're going into an IPO, particularly for a company like OpenAI, who is lagging behind Anthropic in terms of revenue, you want to decrease those expenses," he said. But he added that while it's not unusual to see high-level execs leave before a public listing, "the fact they're all in this small time period, that part is unusual."

The bigger question is whether OpenAI can operate without depending so heavily on Brockman and Altman. As one analyst put it, that's the biggest worry public investors have now: "Does Greg have what it takes to run more of OpenAI, and is OpenAI building this institution that can operate without really depending heavily on him, on both Greg and Sam?" The bet, according to Carmel, is that Brockman can deliver consumer revenue and hardware products to differentiate OpenAI from Anthropic, rather than just catching up on enterprise. Whether he can prove that before the IPO is the open question.

Source: The Verge, "It's Greg Brockman's OpenAI now" (2026).