OpenAI has announced a major management shake-up as the ChatGPT maker prepares for a potential initial public offering this year. Chief operating officer Brad Lightcap will step into a new role focused on special projects, while Denise Dresser, the company's chief revenue officer, will absorb most of his previous responsibilities. The changes were detailed in an internal memo seen by the Financial Times.

Lightcap, one of CEO Sam Altman's most trusted lieutenants, previously oversaw efforts to get businesses to adopt AI by embedding OpenAI engineers in customer teams. The restructuring comes just days after OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round that valued the company at $157 billion. Chief marketing officer Kate Rouch will step down temporarily as she recovers from cancer, while applications chief Fidji Simo will take medical leave for several weeks to address a pre-existing condition.

The management changes reflect OpenAI's transition from a research-focused start-up to a commercial enterprise preparing for public markets. The company has been streamlining operations, placing plans for an erotic chatbot on hold and planning to shutter its Sora video-generation model and social media app. These moves come amid pressure from competitors including Anthropic and Google, as well as data center capacity constraints affecting AI model training.