OpenAI CEO Temporarily Downgrades from AI Overlord to Human POTS Patient
KEY POINTS
- •Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of Applications, is on temporary medical leave to treat the postural tachycardia syndrome.
- •She was misdiagnosed for years, including by doctors who blamed her symptoms on being a 'tired mom.'
- •OpenAI shared in a recent memo that Simo will take several weeks off for treatment and then return.
Fidji Simo, OpenAI's top boss in Applications and cofounder of research alliances, is hitting pause for some serious human problems: postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a heart-speeding, fainting-friendly disorder that first fooled docs into blaming it on being a 'tired mom.' Diagnosed grudgingly since 2019, Simo confessed to fainting 'constantly' to Fortune in 2021, while OpenAI memos now gently admit she’s stepping back to conquer dizzy spells and chest drama with treatment. POTS targets mostly women aged 15-50, strikes after surgery, pregnancy, or puberty, and oddly spikes near menstrual periods — because nothing says fun like an involuntary fainting show on stage.
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(1 of 3)When your AI leads the charge but your autonomic nervous system files for insubordination with fainting, you know progress is shaky at best.
OpenAI's CEO took a break from making robots smart to let her heart remember how to chill. Turns out POTS > AI.
Doctors spent years blaming this CEO's fainting on mom fatigue until POTS showed up like the plot twist no one ordered.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 4/4/2026 | Author: Lauren Edmonds
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