TL;DR
- OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announces her departure after 6.5 years, expressing gratitude for the experience
- Murati led work on high-profile AI projects like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Codex during her tenure as CTO
- Several other high-level executives have recently left OpenAI amidst the company’s pursuit of a $150B+ funding round
- Murati’s departure comes just before OpenAI’s annual developer conference, DevDay, next week
Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of OpenAI, announced her departure from the company on Wednesday. Murati, who has been with the AI startup for over six years, shared her decision on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI … My six-and-a-half years with the OpenAI team have been an extraordinary privilege.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Murati’s announcement, expressing his gratitude for her contributions to the company’s mission and accomplishments. “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,” Altman wrote on X.
Murati joined OpenAI in 2018 as the Vice President of Applied AI and Partnerships. She was promoted to CTO in 2022, leading the company’s work on high-profile AI projects such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Codex. Prior to her role at OpenAI, Murati worked as a senior product manager at Tesla, focusing on the Model X, and as a VP of product and engineering at Leap Motion.
During her tenure as CTO, Murati made some controversial statements regarding AI’s potential impact on creative jobs. In June, she suggested that “some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place if the content that comes out of it is not very high quality.”
Murati’s departure comes amidst a series of high-level executive changes at OpenAI. In recent months, chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, safety leader Jan Leike, and co-founder John Schulman have also left the company. Additionally, president Greg Brockman is currently on an extended leave through the end of the year.
The leadership change also coincides with OpenAI’s reported pursuit of a funding round that could value the company at over $150 billion. Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, and Thrive Capital are said to be in talks to invest, with the round potentially reaching $6.5 billion. The substantial funding is crucial for OpenAI, as the company has reportedly spent approximately $7 billion on model training and $1.5 billion on staffing.
As OpenAI navigates this significant transition, the company prepares for its annual developer conference, DevDay, scheduled for next week. The event is expected to showcase the company’s latest advancements in AI technology and its plans for the future.
News Source: techcrunch
