Cat Wu, who left Anthropic, joins OpenAI as head of core product management; former Claude Code product lead
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| Source: Techmeme | Original article
Cat Wu, former Anthropic product lead for Claude Code, has left the company and will head product management for core products at OpenAI.
Cat Wu, the product lead behind Anthropic’s Claude Code, announced on X that she is moving to OpenAI to head product management for the company’s Core Products group. Wu’s last day at Anthropic was 30 October 2026, and she joined OpenAI on 5 November, reporting to Tibo, OpenAI’s head of core product, and working alongside the heads of enterprise and consumer teams.
Wu spent two years scaling Claude Code from a modest internal tool into a flagship offering, and also oversaw the related Cowork product. Her departure marks the third senior Claude Code team member to exit in as many weeks, following Thariq Shihipar and Anthony Morris, who left in late October. The timing coincides with Anthropic’s planned initial public offering, raising questions about the firm’s ability to retain key talent as it prepares for the market.
The move underscores the intensifying talent battle between the sector’s leading labs. OpenAI’s recruitment of a high‑profile product executive signals a push to accelerate its own agent‑centric roadmap, particularly around long‑running, autonomous tasks that keep users in control. For Anthropic, losing a chief product architect could slow development of Claude Code and affect investor confidence ahead of the IPO.
Watch for OpenAI’s next product announcements that may reflect Wu’s influence, especially in the agent and automation space. Anthropic’s IPO filing and any subsequent staffing updates will also be closely scrutinised, as the market gauges whether the firm can sustain momentum without its recent product leadership.
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