OpenAI Faces Leadership Changes as CTO Mira Murati and Two Executives Depart

OpenAI Faces Leadership Changes as CTO Mira Murati and Two Executives Depart

OpenAI is experiencing significant leadership shifts as Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati along with VP of Research Barret Zoph and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew announced their departures on social media. This move comes amid a series of executive exits at the Microsoft-backed AI company, which is currently navigating a transformative phase.

Murati, who has been with OpenAI for over six years and briefly served as CEO during a tumultuous period in November 2023, is reportedly negotiating her exit while still working with the organization. She initially joined OpenAI as VP of Applied AI and Partnerships in December 2020, eventually rising to the role of CTO in May 2022. Murati has been a prominent figure at the company, notably leading the launch of the GPT-4o model.

In her announcement, Murati expressed a desire to take time for personal exploration. Her departure coincides with OpenAI's ongoing efforts to secure a $6.5 billion funding round, which aims to value the company at $150 billion while restructuring into a for-profit benefit corporation. This change would also grant CEO Sam Altman an equity stake.

The current funding round is still in negotiation, and it remains uncertain if the recent executive changes will impact investor confidence. Some fundraising documents include a clause that allows investors to withdraw if any significant adverse developments occur within the company.

This shake-up follows a series of exits, including co-founder John Schulman joining rival firm Anthropic and Greg Brockman taking a sabbatical. Another co-founder, Ilya Sutskever, also departed earlier this year.

In response to the news, Altman acknowledged that he was not informed about Murati’s departure in advance, emphasizing the difficulty of timing such transitions. He also announced several internal promotions, including Matt Knight as chief information security officer and Josh Achiam as head of mission alignment, as the company continues to evolve amid these leadership changes.