Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's former chief operating officer, said he will leave after eight years to start a new venture, telling staff he will remain for a few weeks and that the company's "mission success feels within sight." He joined in 2018, helped build OpenAI's finance, legal and business teams, became COO in 2024 and shifted to a special projects role in April, when chief revenue officer Denise Dresser took over some of his responsibilities. Chief Executive Sam Altman thanked Lightcap publicly as his departure added to senior exits this year including Fidji Simo, Chloé Bakalar, Bill Peebles, Kevin Weil, Srinivas Narayanan, Hannah Wong, Kate Rouch and Caitlin Kalinowski. The turnover came after the shutdown of Sora, OpenAI's video generation app, and as the company pursues a potential initial public offering after filing a confidential S-1 registration statement with the SEC in June.