This is @fidjissimo at her most Fidji: confronting something unimaginably difficult, then turning it into a mission to help hundreds of millions of people whose diseases have been overlooked for far too long. A beautiful, courageous piece. Rooting so hard for her and @ChronicleBioAI!

I am deeply grateful for all Fidji has done for OpenAI and to advance our mission, and for the opportunity to have worked alongside her for the past few years. It’s quite sad, but I’m glad that she’s taking the time to work as hard on her health as I’ve seen her do professionally — hoping for a quick recovery.

@fidjissimo you are a warrior after my own heart. Fix yourself and you will keep inspiring others to slay the dragons chasing you, and them. Your story is advisory to my own situation - sometimes, healing yourself is the better part of valor for the long run. The vision you opened up for me at the event in Salt Lake City persists, and we are thriving - you created a community that is rooting for you, and working hard for answers to your very problems. Godspeed!

@fidjissimo is truly an n of 1. Sometimes the harder thing isn't to keep pushing, it's knowing when to prioritize you. If there's anyone who will come through this stronger and continue making an extraordinary impact on the world, it's her. Grateful to call her a colleague, co-founder and friend.

Today, I shared with the OpenAI team that I have decided to leave my full-time role at OpenAI and transition to being a part-time advisor. Three months ago, I had to go on medical leave after a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness I’ve lived with for seven years. During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated—and that I needed to focus on it fully. When I went on leave, many people told me I was courageous for prioritizing my health. The truth is that I am only making this decision now because I failed to make it many times before. Over the years, doctors, friends, colleagues, and loved ones encouraged me to slow down. Two years after I got sick, Facebook offered me the opportunity to take a full year of medical leave. I didn’t even pause to consider it. I immediately said no. At the time, Zuck told me I should play the long game. I wish I had listened. Looking back, I realize that a lot of what made me successful also made this decision incredibly difficult. I grew up believing that opportunities were precious and that when they appeared, you grabbed them with both hands. That mindset carried me from a small town in southern France to opportunities I never could have imagined. By the time I turned 40, I had already gotten to do more than I’d ever dreamed possible as a kid growing up in Sète. I love building. My work has always given me a deep sense of purpose. OpenAI in particular felt like a role that my entire career had been building toward, which made this decision even harder. But what I’m learning now is that grit and endurance are not the only skills required to have impact over decades. Sometimes the harder thing is to stop, listen, and trust that taking care of yourself today makes it possible to contribute for much longer tomorrow. This experience has also strengthened my conviction about why this work matters. It has been a jarring experience to spend my days helping build the future while simultaneously navigating a disabling disease that still has no cure. Over the last seven years, I’ve spent countless hours in doctors’ offices, dealing with symptoms, treatments, insurance, uncertainty, and all the invisible work that comes with being a patient. Like millions of others living with chronic illness, I’ve experienced firsthand how difficult healthcare can be to navigate, even when you have every possible advantage. More than ever, I believe that some of the most important opportunities for AI lie in helping people solve real problems in their daily lives: their health, their finances, their time and the everyday burdens that shape human experience. In particular, curing disease is the most important thing AI could accomplish. I’m excited to continue working towards cures through OpenAI but also through my work with @ChronicleBioAI and @CODA_research. I’m deeply grateful to @sama, @gdb and the OpenAI board for their support during this time and for offering a way for me to continue contributing to the mission without sacrificing my chances of recovery. I’m also so thankful to my team and the many extraordinary colleagues I’ve had the privilege to build alongside. For now, my focus is recovery. But my belief in the potential of technology to solve deeply human problems has never been stronger.

Incredibly important initiative. We have massively underestimated the criticality of so-called minor viruses in driving chronic illness. From the blog post: “Respiratory infections raise our risk of serious illness, often years later. While researchers are still early in establishing these connections, it seems plausible that society has meaningfully underestimated the significance of seemingly benign infections on short and long-term health, e.g.: - 9.8x asthma risk by age 6 if infected with HRV between birth and age 3 in a high-risk cohort - 6.1x heart attack risk for 7 days after influenza infection - 4.5-5x dementia risk after severe influenza - 2.6-4.1x Alzheimer’s risk after severe influenza and pneumonia - 2.2-3x schizophrenia potential riskfor infant if mother is infected by influenza during pregnancy -1.3x risk of heart failure after RSV infection compared to influenza”

“Help me save money” is one of the core benefits people hope to get out of AI. With this launch we’re making this super easy. Similar to what we did for Health by letting you connect your health records, you can now do the same for financial records so ChatGPT can have the full picture and give you more informed answers.

Exactly what needs to be done. Biological data is the missing link. It may not be sexy or make for shiny announcements but building biological infrastructure is where the impact is. Huge props to CZI.