OpenAI executives Bill Peebles and Kevin Weil step down
OpenAI is set to lose two key executives, Sora head Bill Peebles and VP of Science Kevin Weil, in a recent wave of leadership departures.
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OpenAI is set to lose two key executives, Sora head Bill Peebles and VP of Science Kevin Weil, in a recent wave of leadership departures.
Both Peebles and Weil announced their departures on X.
Weil, who originally joined in 2024, wrote: “Today is my last day at OpenAI, as OpenAI for Science is being decentralized into other research teams.”
Prism, a collaborative workspace launched in early 2026 for scientists and researchers led by Weil, will become a part of the Codex team.
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An OpenAI spokesperson said that the decentralization is an effort to bring its work closer to the teams that are building leading model capabilities, products, and infrastructure, according to CNBC.
OpenAI shuttered its text-to-video model, Sora, at the end of March, which cost it an estimated $15 million a day. On top of the app being economically unsustainable, tightening regulations on AI-generated content turned viral Sora clips into legal liabilities.
Peebles led the launch of Sora, with the app quickly reaching the top of Apple’s App Store.
“I’m proud of all the sleepless nights before and after the launch this team endured in order to deploy the technology in a responsible way and help steer societal norms,” he wrote in a post on X.
In addition, Srinivas Narayanan, CTO of B2B Applications at OpenAI, also announced his upcoming departure from the company in a post on X.
The departures come after a series of recent changes to OpenAI’s executive team. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s product and business chief, said she would be taking a medical leave due to a worsening neuroimmune condition. Another top exec, OpenAI’s marketing chief Kate Rouch, is also stepping down for health reasons.
Meanwhile, the company’s chief operating officer is moving into a new role focused on “special projects.”
OpenAI also recently had some hiring wins – in 2025, Sachin Katti, Intel’s Chief Technology Officer and AI Officer, joined the company to design its compute infrastructure.
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