Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s special projects lead and the company’s former COO, announced his departure after an eight-year stint at the AI lab. Then in January 2026, Lightcap took a step back from leading the company’s enterprise push as far as product and engineering but stayed in charge of commercial functions. (Embattled AI executive Barret Zoph took over enterprise before departing about five months later.) In April, Lightcap officially stepped down from his COO role, transitioning into a new one leading the team’s “special projects” and reporting to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “It always amazes me how quickly the world has adopted our tools and rallied behind our mission,” Lightcap wrote.