OpenAI Executives Bill Peebles and Kevin Weil Depart as Sora and Science Units Disband

OpenAI unveiled its text-to-video model Sora in February 2024, later launching a standalone app and committing substantial computing resources to consumer video generation. Kevin Weil, meanwhile, moved from chief product officer to vice president of science and founded OpenAI for Science. The scaling back of both initiatives reflects the company’s shift of resources toward Codex, enterprise products and an integrated AI platform.

Bill Peebles, who led Sora, and OpenAI for Science founder Kevin Weil announced their departures on April 17, 2026. OpenAI had announced on March 24 that it would discontinue the Sora app, with the original team shifting to world simulation and robotics. The roughly 10-member science team was dispersed across other research units, while Prism, launched in January, was folded into Codex.