OpenAI's head of enterprise AI sales quits after 5 months
What's the story
Barret Zoph, OpenAI's head of enterprise AI sales, has left the company just five months after his return. His departure was confirmed by OpenAI and announced via a goodbye message on the company's Slack channels. Zoph had rejoined OpenAI in mid-January after serving as co-founder and CTO at Thinking Machines Lab, an AI start-up founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
Career trajectory
Zoph was tasked with leading OpenAI's enterprise push
Upon his return to OpenAI, Zoph was given the key responsibility of leading the company's enterprise push. This was a major move for OpenAI as it had recently promised to focus on core revenue-generating areas such as enterprise and coding. Zoph had initially left OpenAI in the fall of 2024 for Thinking Machines Lab but left that position abruptly in January 2026 amid allegations of misconduct over an undisclosed relationship with a colleague.