OpenAI’s Kevin Weil and Sora head Bill Peebles leave company

OpenAI’s head of science initiatives and the leader for its Sora AI video team are both leaving the company, adding to a recent string of departures while the company reorganizes its sprawling product portfolio.

Kevin Weil, the former chief product officer who later took charge of the OpenAI for Science project, announced Friday that he’s stepping down. Weil joined OpenAI nearly two years ago and previously steered product development at Instagram and Twitter as an executive at those companies.

Bill Peebles, who oversaw Sora, also said Friday that he’s leaving just weeks after OpenAI announced plans to discontinue support for the AI video generator.

In recent weeks, OpenAI has moved to streamline its product offerings as it races to compete for business customers against rival Anthropic and pave the way for a possible initial public offering.

In addition to shuttering Sora, the company is also developing a desktop application to bring together its ChatGPT chatbot, coding tool and web browser. In a post on X, Weil said his team was “being decentralized into other research teams.”

An OpenAI spokesperson said the moves are part of the company’s efforts to refocus and unify its products. Prism, a tool for scientists that Weil had led as vice president of science, will become part of the company’s Codex team.

The departures follow a series of changes to OpenAI’s executive bench. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced that its chief operating officer was shifting into a new role while two other top executives are going on leave due to health reasons.

Wired was first to report Weil’s exit.