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Mira Murati is the latest executive to depart OpenAI.”I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration,” she wrote in a staff memo.Murati’s attorney previously pushed back against reports she raised concerns about Sam Altman.
OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati is leaving the company — the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the leading AI company.
After six-and-a-half years at the company, including temporarily serving as its CEO after cofounder Sam Altman was briefly ousted, Murati told employees in a message Wednesday she had “made the difficult decision to leave.”
Read her full memo to staff that she shared online below:
Hi all,I have something to share with you. After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAl.My six-and-a-half years with the OpenAl team have been an extraordinary privilege. While I’ll express my gratitude to many individuals in the coming days, I want to start by thanking Sam and Greg for their trust in me to lead the technical organization and for their support throughout the years.There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right. Our recent releases of speech-to-speech and OpenAl o1 mark the beginning of a new era in interaction and intelligence – achievements made possible by your ingenuity and craftsmanship. We didn’t merely build smarter models, we fundamentally changed how Al systems learn and reason through complex problems.We brought safety research from the theoretical realm into practical applications, creating models that are more robust, aligned, and steerable than ever before. Our work has made cutting-edge Al research intuitive and accessible, developing technology that adapts and evolves based on everyone’s input. This success is a testament to our outstanding teamwork, and it is because of your brilliance, your dedication, and your commitment that OpenAl stands at the pinnacle of Al innovation.I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration. For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we’ve built.I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to build and work alongside this remarkable team. Together, we’ve pushed the boundaries of scientific understanding in our quest to improve human well-being.While I may no longer be in the trenches with you, I will still be rooting for you all.With deep gratitude for the friendships forged, the triumphs achieved, and most importantly, the challenges overcome together.Mira
Altman wrote on X that he had thanked Murati in a message to the company.
“It’s hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally,” Altman wrote. “I feel tremendous gratitude towards her for what she has helped us build and accomplish, but I most of all feel personal gratitude towards her for the support and love during all the hard times. I am excited for what she’ll do next.”
Altman said OpenAI would announce more about its “transition plans” soon.
Murati hails from Albania and joined OpenAI in 2018 following a previous stint at Tesla. At the AI giant, she oversaw the teams that developed two of its most important products: ChatGPT and image generator Dall-E.
In addition to heading up those major teams, Murati also served as a major public face for OpenAI, appearing in the company’s videos and sitting down for interviews with journalists.
When Altman was abruptly ousted by the company’s board in 2023, The New York Times reported that Murati played a key role, having raised concerns about his leadership style to the board and to Altman directly.
At the time, a lawyer for Murati pushed back, saying she had not approached the board to get Altman fired and was surprised by its decision.
The Times also reported that OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who left the company in May, had similarly raised concerns.
Hours after Sutskever’s departure, Jan Leike, co-leader of OpenAI’s superalignment group, announced his resignation.
OpenAI lost more executives in August when president Greg Brockman announced a sabbatical. At the same time, VP of consumer product Peter Deng departed, and cofounder John Schulman left to join rival AI firm Anthropic.
One former researcher at the company, Daniel Kokotajlo, also said OpenAI’s team dedicated to safety had been nearly halved in roughly a year.
The company is seeking to raise funding from the likes of Thrive Capital, Microsoft, and Apple at a staggering $150 billion valuation.
Earlier this month, the company unveiled o1, an AI model designed to “reason” more like humans and to tackle complex problems in science, coding, and math.
It also announced a revamped Safety and Security Committee that does not include Altman.
