OpenAI's CTO Mira Murati Among Three Key Executives to Depart

OpenAI's CTO Mira Murati Among Three Key Executives to Depart

OpenAI has announced the departure of three senior technical leaders, including Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, amidst a wave of executive changes at the company. This news comes as OpenAI engages in negotiations for a $6.5 billion funding round, which hinges on a significant corporate restructuring.

Murati, along with Vice President of Research Barret Zoph and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, shared their exit on X on Wednesday afternoon. OpenAI is currently navigating a complex transition, aiming to restructure as a for-profit benefit corporation while also granting CEO Sam Altman an equity stake. This restructuring follows a tumultuous period, including Altman's temporary ousting from the company in November 2023, which lasted five days due to a breakdown in communication and trust.

The company is in the final stages of securing the new funding, valued at $150 billion. However, the recent departures raise questions about their potential impact on the fundraising efforts. Some investment agreements include a "material adverse change" clause, allowing investors to reconsider their commitment if the company faces significant challenges.

Murati remains with OpenAI while she works out the terms of her exit. Having joined the organization as Vice President of Applied AI and Partnerships in December 2020, she ascended to the role of CTO in May 2022. Prior to her tenure at OpenAI, she contributed to projects at Leap Motion and Tesla. Murati has been a prominent figure representing OpenAI, notably leading the launch presentation for the GPT-4o model in May, which introduced realistic voice interactions.

In her farewell message on X, Murati expressed her desire for personal exploration as her reason for leaving, stating she wanted to create time and space for new opportunities.

Her departure adds to a series of exits from OpenAI this year. In August, co-founder John Schulman announced his move to competitor Anthropic, and another co-founder, Greg Brockman, disclosed a sabbatical through the end of the year. Chief scientist Ilya Sutskever also left the company earlier this year.

In response to the departures, CEO Sam Altman shared that Murati did not inform him prior to her decision, explaining that she wanted to leave when the company was performing well, noting that there is never a perfect time for such changes. Altman also announced several internal promotions, including Matt Knight as Chief Information Security Officer and Josh Achiam as Head of Mission Alignment.