OpenAI stands as the original frontier lab, with its newest publicly available model, GPT-5.6, ranking among the most capable and efficient options on the market. Its desktop app, designed for agentic coding and workplace productivity, has attracted roughly 15 million new subscribers over the past two months. The company has also already submitted paperwork to go public. So why are so many top executives heading for the exits?

Since the start of the year, more than a dozen leaders have left, including CEO Sam Altman’s closest deputy, the chief operating officer, a chief revenue officer, the chief marketing officer, and several team leads. Just yesterday, reports emerged that Chris Malone, the head of data centers who joined in March 2024, departed last week. Some of these exits stem from health concerns, while others trace back to a reorganization driven by Altman’s push to cut costly “side projects” and zero in on revenue-generating work.

Still, Malone’s unexplained exit stands out, especially given that OpenAI’s main edge over rivals like Anthropic or SpaceX lies in its heavy investment in compute. It’s hardly shocking that a senior executive might step away after finding himself several levels down the chain of command. The frontier lab declined to comment on broader organizational shifts, but it’s becoming clear that cofounder and president Greg Brockman is reasserting his influence. Brockman played a pivotal role in building OpenAI’s early infrastructure, though he was stripped of most management duties in 2019 when Altman took over as CEO. After that, he took on a more disruptive role, according to Karen Hao’s book “Empire of AI.” His contributions to projects like GPT-4 were significant, but he also fueled internal rivalries that contributed to the turmoil in 2023, when the board briefly ousted Altman. Brockman took a short sabbatical in 2024 before returning, and today, the infrastructure and product teams report to him.

The looming IPO casts a shadow over all of this. In June, OpenAI announced it had confidentially filed going-public disclosures with the SEC. Entering public markets would be a major win for the capital-hungry lab, but it also means revealing its financials around the same time as rival Anthropic, which is also gearing up for a public debut. Anthropic is reportedly profitable, while OpenAI’s losses are said to be climbing alongside its revenue. That said, OpenAI’s IPO isn’t expected until 2027; most companies that file confidentially typically hit the trading floor within about five months—SpaceX managed it in under two. Altman’s public remarks about a rough past twelve months, coupled with the internal reshuffling, align with a narrative that the company may have gotten ahead of itself with the IPO filing and is now restructuring to boost profits and shed unnecessary baggage.

There’s a familiar pattern among some tech startups: brilliant founders build the product, then bring in an experienced CEO to scale the business and prepare it for going public. That dynamic was evident when OpenAI hired now-departed executives like Fidji Simo and Kevin Weil, both veterans of multiple tech companies—and it’s showing up again as Brockman’s influence grows. Before OpenAI, he was known for scaling Stripe’s operations and championing go-to-market strategies internally. With so much high-level turnover, OpenAI will need someone to step into the void. The company will also have to tighten its belt ahead of the IPO, driving revenue and cutting costs wherever possible. For both challenges, Brockman’s rising influence may be arriving at just the right moment.