OpenAI expands sales team with xai executive amid strategic shift

OpenAI has hired Graham Sims, former head of sales at xAI, to lead its cybersecurity business sales. Sims previously led xAI's sales team since August 2025, working on promoting Grok to Wall Street clients. This marks another move by OpenAI to recruit talent from Elon Musk's AI ventures. In September, OpenAI also hired Brian McCarthy, former global revenue and sales president of Cursor, and Ismail Elmas, former EMEA vice president, as global sales vice president and EMEA sales vice president respectively. SpaceX acquired Cursor for $6 billion in August. OpenAI also recruited Uday Ruda Raju and Brent Mayo from xAI for infrastructure and data center roles. OpenAI aims to expand its commercial business ahead of a potential IPO, boosting revenue from enterprise clients and exploring new income streams like advertising. Musk previously sued OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its public mission, but lost the case. He later founded xAI, which was later absorbed by SpaceX.