OpenAI, the leading artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, is facing a significant leadership shakeup. The company’s Chief Technical Officer Meera Murati has announced her resignation. Meera served as interim CEO during last year’s tumultuous time.
“After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI,” Murati said in a written announcement. She explained her decision, saying, “I am stepping away because I want to create the time and space to pursue my own discoveries.”
The exodus didn’t stop here: The exodus didn’t stop there. CEO Sam Altman later revealed that two other top executives, chief research officer Bob McGrew and research leader Barrett Joffe, were also leaving the San Francisco-based company. Altman stressed that these decisions were made “independently of each other and amicably.”
This wave of departures follows a trend of high-profile exits from OpenAI in recent months. The company’s chairman and co-founder Greg Brockman announced in August that he would take a sabbatical until the end of the year. Another co-founder, John Schulman, also left Anthropic that same month. In May, another co-founder, who led AI safety efforts, left to start his own AI venture.
The turnover has raised eyebrows in the tech world, given OpenAI’s rapid rise to prominence. The company started as a nonprofit research lab but has become a name thanks to its ChatGPT chatbot. Murati spoke warmly about his time at OpenAI, describing it as “at the pinnacle of AI innovation” in a farewell note to colleagues.
What did Sam Altman say?
“I obviously won’t pretend it’s natural for this to happen so suddenly, but we’re not a normal company,” Altman said in a social media post announcing new roles for six other team members.