Mira Murati, OpenAI’s technology chief, becomes the latest exec to leave the company | CNN Business

New York CNN —

The departure of executives at OpenAI continues, as three key leaders, including Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, revealed their plans to leave on Wednesday.

Murati, who played a key role in creating ChatGPT and the AI image generator Dall-E, announced on X Wednesday afternoon that she is departing from the company. Soon after, OpenAI's Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and Vice President of Research Barret Zoph also confirmed their departures.

In a message shared with the OpenAI team on X, Murati expressed, “My time with the OpenAI team over the past six and a half years has been an incredible honor. While there’s never a perfect moment to leave a place you care about, I believe this is the right time for me to go.”

The departures on Wednesday are part of a recent trend of executives leaving OpenAI. This change in leadership occurs as the company, known for creating ChatGPT, pursues a contentious strategy for expansion. This strategy includes attracting more investment and increasing revenue generation.

The organization, originally established as a non-profit research laboratory and later expanding into a for-profit branch, is considering a reorganization that may increase profits for its investors. According to reports from Bloomberg and other sources, OpenAI is currently discussing a new fundraising effort that could raise the company's valuation to $150 billion.

Recent departures include Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist and co-founder, who left the organization in May to establish a new venture focused on developing safer AI. Another co-founder, John Schulman, made his exit in August to team up with the competing company Anthropic. Additionally, Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president and co-founder, is currently on an extended leave of absence.

The recent wave of exits has left CEO Sam Altman with a diminished leadership team that was instrumental in quickly transforming OpenAI into a major player in the artificial intelligence field. This situation may also strengthen Altman's control over the company at a time when it is undergoing restructuring.

Mira, Bob, and Barret each came to their decisions on their own and in a friendly manner. However, Mira's timing made it logical to make these changes all at once, allowing for a collaborative transition to the next set of leaders, Altman explained in a post on X Wednesday. He also mentioned that leading at OpenAI is a full-time commitment and praised the outgoing executives for their exceptional dedication to the organization.

Murati became part of OpenAI's leadership team in 2018, following her experience at the augmented reality firm Ultraleap (formerly known as Leap Motion) and at Tesla. After the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, she played a key role in guiding OpenAI, which quickly rose to fame in Silicon Valley and other regions, sparking a competitive rush in the tech industry focused on artificial intelligence.

In November of last year, she temporarily took on the role of interim CEO at OpenAI amid a turbulent period of leadership changes, which included Sam Altman's removal and rapid reinstatement. During this turmoil, Murati, along with over 500 other OpenAI employees, threatened to resign if Altman was not reinstated.

Recently, Murati led significant improvements in the company’s technology. This included the launch of GPT-4o in May, which enabled ChatGPT to engage in human-like spoken conversations. Additionally, this month saw the unveiling of OpenAI o1, an AI model that the company claims is capable of "reasoning" to tackle more complex science and math challenges.

"In our latest launch of speech-to-speech technology and OpenAI o1, we are ushering in a new chapter in communication and intelligence. We didn’t just create more advanced models; we have transformed the way AI systems learn and tackle intricate issues," Murati stated in the announcement regarding her departure.

Murati mentioned that she is stepping down from her position at OpenAI to "make room for my own exploration," but she will help with the transition of leadership.

Altman replied to Murati's post on X with a message of his own, expressing, "It's difficult to emphasize just how significant Mira has been to OpenAI, our goals, and each of us personally."

"I am incredibly thankful to her for the contributions she has made to our success, but what I truly appreciate most is the support and kindness she offered during challenging moments. I'm looking forward to seeing what she takes on next," Altman mentioned, also noting that the company will provide more details about the leadership transition plan in the near future.

Later on Wednesday, Altman revised his post to confirm the departures of Zoph and McGrew.

McGrew, who became part of OpenAI in 2017 when it was, as he noted in a post on X, a “small non-profit,” has announced his intention to “take a break.”

"In my opinion, sending o1 out into the world is the perfect conclusion to my efforts here," he mentioned in the post. McGrew also stated that he will stay at OpenAI for an additional two months to help with the transition of leadership.

Zoph became a part of OpenAI's research team in 2022, right before ChatGPT debuted. In a post on X, he mentioned that "this seems like a good time for me to look for new possibilities beyond OpenAI."

In his announcement, Altman revealed that Mark Chen, who played a key role in showcasing GPT-4o during its launch earlier this year, will take over McGrew's position as senior vice president of research. He also introduced a new head of mission alignment, Josh Achiam, whose role is to "make sure we have everything (including the culture) in order to achieve our goals." Additionally, Josh Knight has been appointed as the chief information security officer.

OpenAI hasn't yet replied to inquiries regarding when Murati will officially leave the company or if there are plans to announce a new Chief Technology Officer.

This article has been revised to include more details and background information.