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Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer who temporarily served as chief executive during the failed coup against founder Sam Altman, is leaving the company.
In a message shared with the company’s employees on Wednesday, she said that “after much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI”.
Murati spent six and a half years at the company and was made interim chief executive during the failed attempt to oust Altman last year. She is the latest in a series of high-profile executives to leave the Microsoft-backed AI company this year, who have included founders Ilya Sutskever and John Schulman.
OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, is one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable start-ups and is in discussions to raise more than $6bn at a $150bn valuation.
“There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right,” she added. “Our recent releases of speech-to-speech and [latest models] OpenAI o1 mark the beginning of a new era in interaction and intelligence — achievements made possible by your ingenuity and craftsmanship.”
Murati said she was stepping away because she wished to “create the time and space to do my own exploration”. She added that her primary focus would be to “ensure a smooth transition”.
“While I may no longer be in the trenches with you, I will still be rooting for you all,” she added.
