OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, resigned on Wednesday, expressing a desire to have “the time and space to do my own exploration.” Murati was one of the three top executives at the company behind ChatGPT and briefly led OpenAI last year during internal deliberations regarding CEO Sam Altman.
In a message to OpenAI staff, which she posted on the social media platform X, Murati stated, “There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right.” Sam Altman responded to her post, emphasizing Murati’s significance to OpenAI and expressing personal gratitude for her support and dedication during challenging times.
A successor for Murati has not been named immediately. Both Murati and OpenAI declined to provide additional comments, referring to her recent tweet for further information.
Murati’s career prior to joining OpenAI in 2018 included positions at Tesla and Leap Motion. When she joined, OpenAI was a small nonprofit research lab focused on creating an AI system that could replicate a wide array of human tasks. The success of ChatGPT spurred the company’s growth and shift towards a more commercial focus, prompting considerations to revise its nonprofit structure as investors showed heightened interest in its future potential.
Murati joined OpenAI with the belief that AI would become “the most important set of technologies that humanity has ever built” and was drawn by the company’s mission to create technology that benefits people.
OpenAI experienced significant internal turbulence last November when a board coup led to CEO Sam Altman’s temporary removal, with Murati stepping in as a brief replacement. Altman was reinstated after most of the staff threatened resignation, and after significant pressure from investors, including Microsoft.
Following these events, several of OpenAI’s leadership and engineering figures have departed, including Ilya Sutskever, one of the first hires and a key technical leader, who resigned in May. His departure was shortly followed by Jan Leike, an engineer focused on long-term AI safety. John Schulman, who took over leadership of safety efforts, also stepped down in August. Additionally, Greg Brockman, a co-founder and staunch supporter of Altman, announced a sabbatical until the end of the year.
Several former OpenAI executives and researchers have since founded new AI companies. Ilya Sutskever launched Safe Superintelligence this year, aiming to develop safe AI technologies, while former OpenAI research chief Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela founded Anthropic in 2021, which has grown into a significant competitor in the AI industry.
This is a developing story. Further updates are expected.