OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati Announces Departure
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On Thu, 26 Sept, 12:06 AM UTC
16 Sources
16 Sources
[1]
Top OpenAI executive Mira Murati leaves company
Murati was chief technology officer and was briefly interim CEO last year when the board tried unsuccessfully to oust CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, is leaving the artificial intelligence company, adding to a recent exodus of senior leaders as the company behind ChatGPT seeks a new round of funding from investors. Murati said in a message shared with OpenAI employees Wednesday and also posted on X that "after much reflection" she had decided to leave the company after 6½ years. "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," Murati said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on X that he was grateful for Murati's service to the company. "It's hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally," Altman said. Murati's unexpected departure leaves OpenAI without one of its longest-serving and best-known executives. It comes after OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever left the company in May and started his own AI firm. Another co-founder and key executive, Greg Brockman, is on a leave of absence. OpenAI is raising new funding that would value the company at over $100 billion, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private information. Murati joined OpenAI in 2018, rising at the company to become its chief technology officer. She was named as interim CEO after the company's board ousted Altman in November 2023 but in the firestorm that followed his departure supported his return as chief executive. Over the last year, Murati's profile as a spokesperson for the company continued to grow, serving as a key executive giving interviews to the media and appearing in the company's public demonstrations of its new products. A spokesman for OpenAI declined to comment beyond Altman's statement on X.
[2]
OpenAI exec Mira Murati says she's leaving artificial intelligence company
SAN FRANCISCO -- A high-ranking executive at OpenAI who served a few days as its interim CEO during a period of turmoil last year said she's leaving the artificial intelligence company. Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief technology officer, said in a written statement Wednesday that after much reflection she has "made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI." "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she said. She spoke positively of the company and its CEO Sam Altman in the departing statement, describing it as "at the pinnacle of AI innovation" and saying it's hard to leave a place one cherishes. Murati was suddenly catapulted to be the company's interim CEO late last year after the board of directors fired Altman, sparking upheaval in the AI industry. The company later brought in another interim CEO before restoring Altman to his leadership role and replacing most of the board members who ousted him.
[3]
OpenAI exec Mira Murati says she's leaving artificial intelligence company
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A high-ranking executive at OpenAI who served a few days as its interim CEO during a period of turmoil last year said she's leaving the artificial intelligence company. Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief technology officer, said in a written statement Wednesday that after much reflection she has "made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI." "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she said. She spoke positively of the company and its CEO Sam Altman in the departing statement, describing it as "at the pinnacle of AI innovation" and saying it's hard to leave a place one cherishes. Murati was suddenly catapulted to be the company's interim CEO late last year after the board of directors fired Altman, sparking upheaval in the AI industry. The company later brought in another interim CEO before restoring Altman to his leadership role and replacing most of the board members who ousted him.
[4]
OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati to leave
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.
[5]
OpenAI exec Mira Murati says she's leaving artificial intelligence company
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A high-ranking executive at OpenAI who served a few days as its interim CEO during a period of turmoil last year said she's leaving the artificial intelligence company. Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief technology officer, said in a written statement Wednesday that after much reflection she has "made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI." "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she said. She spoke positively of the company and its CEO Sam Altman in the departing statement, describing it as "at the pinnacle of AI innovation" and saying it's hard to leave a place one cherishes. Murati was suddenly catapulted to be the company's interim CEO late last year after the board of directors fired Altman, sparking upheaval in the AI industry. The company later brought in another interim CEO before restoring Altman to his leadership role and replacing most of the board members who ousted him.
[6]
OpenAI executive who briefly replaced Sam Altman as CEO is leaving
OpenAI is losing yet another high-level executive with the departure of chief technology officer Mira Murati. Murati, who spent six-and-a-half years at the artificial intelligence startup, announced Wednesday that she had "made the difficult decision" to leave and that she wants "to create the time and space to do my own exploration." After OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted in November, Murati served as interim leader of the company. In her announcement, Murati thanked Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman "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," Murati said, "yet this moment feels right." In her statement, Murati noted OpenAI's recent releases of speech-to-speech capability and its latest model series, OpenAI 01, which the company says can "reason" through more complex tasks and problems in science, coding, and math than the startup's earlier models could. "We didn't merely build smarter models, we fundamentally changed how AI systems learn and reason through complex problems," Murati said. Altman responded to Murati's statement on X (META), saying: "It's hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally." "I feel tremendous gratitude towards her for what she has helped us build and accomplish, but most of all feel personal gratitude towards her for the support and love during all the hard times," Altman said. Murati's resignation comes four months after OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, resigned from the company. Sutskever was co-lead of the startup's "superalignment" team, which was focused on AI's existential dangers, alongside Jan Leike, who also resigned in May.
[7]
Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI, Plans to Leave Company
Mira Murati, the chief technology officer at OpenAI, the influential artificial intelligence start-up, said on Wednesday that she would leave the company after working there for more than six years. In a memo she sent to employees and later shared on X, Ms. Murati said that she was stepping away to "create the time and space to do my own exploration," though she did not elaborate on what those next steps would be. "For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we've built," she said. Ms. Murati is the latest in a string of high-profile departures in a turbulent year for the company, which includes the surprise ouster and reinstatement five days later of Sam Altman, OpenAI's co-founder and chief executive. Ms. Murati was briefly appointed to lead the company during the power struggle, before rejecting the role just two days later. She has remained one of the public faces of the company, making frequent public appearances to discuss its technology. A spokesman for OpenAI did not comment. In a reply to Ms. Murati on X, Mr. Altman thanked her for her years at the company and said he would provide more information on the leadership transition in the coming days. "It's hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally," he wrote. The turmoil at OpenAI has been closely watched by investors and competitors. The start-up is currently in talks with Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple and others for a new round of investment that could raise the value of the company to as much as $150 billion, a huge leap from its last round at $80 billion. (The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December for copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems.) In recent months, the company has added a number of seasoned executives, including new heads of product, a new chief financial officer and a head of global policy to handle relationships in Washington and across the world. The company has also stressed its focus on making its technology safe for widespread use. But as new executives have come in, a number of longtime OpenAI managers and researchers have headed out the door. Of the 13 people who helped found OpenAI in late 2015 with a mission to create artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I. -- a machine that can do anything the human brain can do -- only three remain. One of the remaining founders, Greg Brockman, the company's president, has taken a leave of absence through the end of the year, citing the need for time off after nearly a decade of work. Cade Metz contributed reporting from New York.
[8]
OpenAI Exec Mira Murati Says She's Leaving Artificial Intelligence Company
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A high-ranking executive at OpenAI who served a few days as its interim CEO during a period of turmoil last year said she's leaving the artificial intelligence company. Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief technology officer, said in a written statement Wednesday that after much reflection she has "made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI." "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she said. She spoke positively of the company and its CEO Sam Altman in the departing statement, describing it as "at the pinnacle of AI innovation" and saying it's hard to leave a place one cherishes. Murati was suddenly catapulted to be the company's interim CEO late last year after the board of directors fired Altman, sparking upheaval in the AI industry. The company later brought in another interim CEO before restoring Altman to his leadership role and replacing most of the board members who ousted him. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[9]
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announces she is leaving -- the AI startup's latest high-level departure
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said Wednesday that she is leaving the high-profile artificial intelligence (AI) company after six and a half years. "There's never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right," Murati wrote in a statement she shared on X. Murati has been a key player at OpenAI, which captured the attention of the world in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT. She served as temporary chief executive of the company after its board of directors temporarily ousted CEO Sam Altman last year. Murati wrote that she is leaving "because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration."
[10]
CTO Mira Murati is the latest leader to leave OpenAI
Mira Murati has departed OpenAI, where she had been the chief technology officer since 2018. In a note shared with the company and then posted publicly on X, Murati said that she is exiting "because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration." Murati gained additional visibility as a face for the AI company when she briefly assumed CEO duties in November 2023 when the board of directors fired Sam Altman. Altman returned to the helm and Murati resumed work as CTO. However, her departure follows on two other notable exits. Last month, president and co-founder Greg Brockman and co-founder John Schulman both announced that they would be stepping away from OpenAI. Brockman is taking a sabbatical and Schulman is moving to rival AI firm Anthropic.
[11]
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati Leaves Company
OpenAI's Mira Murati is leaving the AI company after six years, according to a tweet from the CTO on Wednesday. Murati opened the tweet by stating that she was making the "difficult decision" to leave OpenAI "after much reflection." "I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," Murtai wrote. "For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we’ve built." Murati thanked Sam Altman and Greg Brockman in her tweet and their "support throughout the years." "There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right," Murati wrote. "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." Altman tweeted a reply to Murati's departing message. "It’s hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally," he said. "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." Murati's tenure included some controversial moments, like when she was asked by the Wall Street Journal back in March about whether OpenAI uses YouTube for training data for the company's AI video generator, Sora. Murati made an awkward face that became famous as a joke online.
[12]
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is leaving
"I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she wrote in a post on X. "For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we've built." This comes almost a year after a boardroom coup shook the AI startup and temporarily ousted CEO Sam Altman, leaving Murati as its temporary leader. Prior to OpenAI, Murati worked at Tesla on its AI efforts.
[13]
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati says she's leaving firm to do her 'own exploration'
Chief technology officer had taken over the ChatGPT maker when its board ousted CEO Sam Altman in November In a surprise move, OpenAI's chief technology officer announced on Wednesday that she would soon leave the company after six and a half years. In a note shared with the company and then posted to Twitter/X, Mira Murati wrote she was leaving the tech company behind ChatGPT. "After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI ... I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she said. CEO Sam Altman offered kind words in response to Murati's departure, writing on X: "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." Before her announcement, Murati's departure did not appear imminent. She served as one of OpenAI's public faces and evangelized its work even in her final weeks, particularly with regards to explaining technical capabilities. She ran demonstrations of its new products during events geared towards software developers and sat for interviews about the company's work. In June, she made what seemed like a veiled threat against artists and writers during a conversation at Dartmouth. OpenAI has been sued for allegedly violating writers and newspapers' copyright. "Some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn't have been there in the first place," Murati said. Murati was one of the highest in command at OpenAI, and her departure further thins the ranks of its upper echelon. In November, she took the reins of the prominent startup after its board ousted Altman. In May, OpenAI's chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, resigned and expressed concerns over the company's safeguards against misuse of its AI. Former safety lead Jan Leike left the same month. Co-founder John Schulman left in August for Anthropic, a rival AI startup backed by Amazon. Last week, Sutskever announced the formation of his own startup with $1bn in new investment. OpenAI is in the midst of seeking new investment that would value it above $100bn. Microsoft has already spent $10bn on OpenAI in exchange for 49% ownership and is likely to lavish more funding on the company. Thrive Capital has announced it will invest $1bn in OpenAI; Nvidia and Apple are reportedly joining the funding round as well. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022.
[14]
Mira Murati, OpenAI's technology chief, is leaving the company after six years
Under Murati's technical leadership, OpenAI sparked the generative AI era with the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Her departure comes as OpenAI touts recent releases of a speech-to-speech chat feature and its new landmark reasoning model, o1. Murati called these recent milestones "the beginning of a new era in interaction and intelligence" in a note announcing her departure to the OpenAI team that she posted to X this afternoon. Murati did not share details about where she's heading next, and OpenAI has not announced who will serve as CTO in her absence. "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," Murati wrote. Murati also guided the company through the turbulent ousting of its chief executive, Sam Altman, last year. In the days before OpenAI's board reinstated Altman, Murati served as the interim chief executive. Murati reportedly raised concerns about "a race to the bottom on safety" amid rapid and competitive AI development to the board, but she ultimately supported rehiring Altman. Her message to OpenAI staff today expressed thanks to Altman and president Greg Brockman. "While I may no longer be in the trenches with you, I will still be rooting for you all," she wrote.
[15]
OpenAI's Murati shocks with sudden departure announcement
OpenAI CTO's resignation coincides with news about the company's planned restructuring. On Wednesday, OpenAI Chief Technical Officer Mira Murati announced she is leaving the company in a surprise resignation shared on the social network X. Murati joined OpenAI in 2018, serving for six-and-a-half years in various leadership roles, most recently as the CTO. Further Reading "After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI," she wrote in a letter to the company's staff. "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," she continued, referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. "There's never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right." At OpenAI, Murati was in charge of overseeing the company's technical strategy and product development, including the launch and improvement of DALL-E, Codex, Sora, and the ChatGPT platform, while also leading research and safety teams. In public appearances, Murati often spoke about ethical considerations in AI development. Murati's decision to leave the company comes when OpenAI finds itself at a major crossroads with a plan to alter its nonprofit structure. According to a Reuters report published today, OpenAI is working to reorganize its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation, removing control from its nonprofit board. The move, which would give CEO Sam Altman equity in the company for the first time, could potentially value OpenAI at $150 billion. Murati stated her decision to leave was driven by a desire to "create the time and space to do my own exploration," though she didn't specify her future plans. Proud of safety and research work In her departure announcement, Murati highlighted recent developments at OpenAI, including innovations in speech-to-speech technology and the release of OpenAI o1. She cited what she considers the company's progress in safety research and the development of "more robust, aligned, and steerable" AI models. Altman replied to Murati's tweet directly, expressing gratitude for Murati's contributions and her personal support during challenging times, likely referring to the tumultuous period in November 2023 when the OpenAI board of directors briefly fired Altman from the company. "It's hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally," he 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." Not the first major player to leave With Murati's exit, Altman remains one of the few long-standing senior leaders at OpenAI, which has seen significant shuffling in its upper ranks recently. In May 2024, former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever left to form his own company, Safe Superintelligence, Inc. (SSI), focused on building AI systems that far surpass humans in logical capabilities. That came just six months after Sutskever's involvement in the temporary removal of Altman as CEO. Further Reading John Schulman, an OpenAI co-founder, departed earlier in 2024 to join rival AI firm Anthropic, and in August, OpenAI President Greg Brockman announced he would be taking a temporary sabbatical until the end of the year. The leadership shuffles have raised questions among critics about the internal dynamics at OpenAI under Altman and the state of OpenAI's future research path, which has been aiming toward creating artificial general intelligence (AGI) -- a hypothetical technology that could potentially perform human-level intellectual work. "Question: why would key people leave an organization right before it was just about to develop AGI?" asked xAI developer Benjamin De Kraker in a post on X just after Murati's announcement. "This is kind of like quitting NASA months before the moon landing," he wrote in a reply. "Wouldn't you wanna stick around and be part of it?" Altman mentioned that more information about transition plans would be forthcoming, leaving questions about who will step into Murati's role and how OpenAI will adapt to this latest leadership change as the company is poised to adopt a corporate structure that may consolidate more power directly under Altman. "We'll say more about the transition plans soon, but for now, I want to take a moment to just feel thanks," Altman wrote.
[16]
OpenAI's technology chief Mira Murati to leave
Sept 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft-backed OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati will leave the AI firm, the executive said in a post on X. Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
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Mira Murati, a key figure in OpenAI's leadership, has announced her departure from the artificial intelligence company. This move comes amidst ongoing changes and developments in the AI industry.
OpenAI Loses Key Executive
Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, has announced her departure from the prominent artificial intelligence company. Murati, who has been a central figure in OpenAI's leadership, shared the news of her exit on Tuesday, marking another significant change in the company's executive lineup 1.
Murati's Role and Contributions
During her tenure at OpenAI, Murati played a crucial role in the development and launch of ChatGPT, the company's groundbreaking large language model that has garnered widespread attention and use 2. Her leadership extended beyond technical aspects, as she briefly served as interim CEO during a tumultuous period in November when co-founder Sam Altman was temporarily ousted 3.
Impact on OpenAI
Murati's departure represents a significant loss for OpenAI, given her extensive experience and deep understanding of the company's technology and vision. Her exit follows a series of high-profile departures from the company, including that of president Greg Brockman, raising questions about the stability of OpenAI's leadership 4.
Industry Implications
The news of Murati's departure comes at a time of intense competition and rapid advancement in the AI industry. As companies vie for top talent and race to develop increasingly sophisticated AI technologies, the movement of key executives like Murati can have significant implications for the competitive landscape 5.
Future Plans and OpenAI's Response
While Murati has confirmed her departure, details about her future plans or her next role remain undisclosed. OpenAI has not yet announced a successor for the CTO position, leaving industry observers speculating about the potential impact on the company's technological direction and ongoing projects 1.
Broader Context of AI Industry Dynamics
Murati's exit from OpenAI underscores the fluid nature of the AI industry, where talent mobility and organizational changes are becoming increasingly common. As AI continues to evolve and find applications across various sectors, the competition for skilled professionals and visionary leaders in the field is likely to intensify 4.
Reference
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[5]
OpenAI Undergoes Major Leadership Restructuring Amid Profit Considerations
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company, is experiencing significant changes in its leadership structure. CEO Sam Altman aims to flatten the organization and promote new leaders as the company considers transitioning to a for-profit model.
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OpenAI Faces Leadership Exodus Amid Strategic Shift and Funding Negotiations
OpenAI experiences a significant brain drain as key technical leaders depart, raising questions about the company's future direction and ability to maintain its competitive edge in AI research and development.
3 Sources
Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati Raises Over $100 Million for New AI Startup
Mira Murati, ex-CTO of OpenAI, is reportedly seeking over $100 million in funding for her new AI startup, focusing on proprietary AI models and products. This move comes shortly after her departure from OpenAI, signaling a potential new competitor in the AI landscape.
8 Sources
OpenAI's Leadership Exodus: Key Executives Depart Amid Strategic Shift
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, faces a significant leadership shakeup as several top executives, including CTO Mira Murati, resign. This comes as the company considers transitioning to a for-profit model and seeks new funding.
7 Sources
OpenAI Co-Founder John Schulman Joins Rival AI Company Anthropic
John Schulman, a co-founder of OpenAI, has left the company to join Anthropic, a rival AI firm. This move marks another significant departure from OpenAI's original founding team, leaving only three of the initial eleven co-founders still with the company.
3 Sources
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