OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and 2 other execs are leaving the ChatGPT maker

Advertisement

Advertise with us

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.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/09/2024 (697 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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.

FILE - Mira Murati appears at OpenAI DevDay, OpenAI's first developer conference, on Nov. 6, 2023 in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Barbara Ortutay, File)
FILE - Mira Murati appears at OpenAI DevDay, OpenAI's first developer conference, on Nov. 6, 2023 in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Barbara Ortutay, File)

Two other top executives are also on their way out, CEO Sam Altman announced later Wednesday. The decisions by Murati, as well as OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and another research leader, Barret Zoph, were made “independently of each other and amicably,” Altman said in a note to employees he shared on social media.

They are the latest high-profile departures from San Francisco-based OpenAI, which started as a nonprofit research laboratory and is best known for making ChatGPT. Its president and co-founder, Greg Brockman, said in August he was “taking a sabbatical” through the end of the year. Another co-founder, John Schulman, left in August for rival Anthropic, founded in 2021 by a group of ex-OpenAI leaders.

Yet another co-founder, Ilya Sutskever, who led a team focused on AI safety, left in May and has started his own AI company.

Days after Sutskever’s departure, his safety team co-leader Jan Leike also resigned and leveled criticism at OpenAI for letting safety “take a backseat to shiny products.”

Murati spoke positively of the company and Altman in a departing note to colleagues shared on social media, describing it as “at the pinnacle of AI innovation” and saying it’s hard to leave a place one cherishes.

Altman expressed his gratitude for Murati’s service and said leadership changes are natural for a fast-growing company.

“I obviously won’t pretend it’s natural for this one to be so abrupt, but we are not a normal company,” Altman said in a post on X that also announced that six other people were taking new roles.

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.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Roadside giants towering symbols of Canada’s quirkiness

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Preview

Roadside giants towering symbols of Canada’s quirkiness

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Could you imagine a Canada without Mr. PG repping Prince George, B.C.? Or the Big Nickel in Sudbury? Or, my personal favourite, Happy Rock in Gladstone?

Earlier this summer, CBC’s Cost of Living looked at the economics of these giant roadside attractions — of which there are more than 1,500 in Canada — and the cost of keeping them.

Some are falling into disrepair — this is why public art funding is necessary, by the way, not just for construction, but maintenance — and some towns are weighing whether or not that money is better spent elsewhere.

The main character of the story: Tyra the Tyrannosaurus, the rather literal symbol of Drumheller, Alta., a.k.a. the Dinosaur Capital of the World since 2000, who could be facing extinction after the lease agreement between the town and the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce ends in 2029.

Read
2:01 AM CDT

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Morgan Modjeski 11 minute read Preview

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Morgan Modjeski 11 minute read Yesterday at 12:25 PM CDT

Despite complaints from thousands of dissatisfied users, Winnipeg hasn't hit the brakes on the rollout of its new primary transit network. And it appears that ignoring the public response cost Winnipeg Transit millions of dollars in lost revenue and ridership.

Read
Yesterday at 12:25 PM CDT

Bombers offence stalls in 22-19 loss to Elks

Joshua Frey-Sam 8 minute read Preview

Bombers offence stalls in 22-19 loss to Elks

Joshua Frey-Sam 8 minute read Updated: 8:19 AM CDT

It was a microcosm of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ season to this point: a first half that burned bright only to be doused in cold water.

The Bombers began the first leg of their mid-season gauntlet with a 22-19 loss to the Edmonton Elks at Commonwealth Stadium in the Alberta capital on Friday night.

Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo orchestrated an eight-play, 54-yard drive that set up a 40-yard game-winning field goal by Vincent Blanchard that snuck inside the left upright with zeros on the clock.

The drive, which was plagued by poor tackling by the Bombers defence, came after Bombers kicker Sergio Castillo tied the game at 19-19 on a 53-yard boot with 1:41 remaining in the contest.

Read
Updated: 8:19 AM CDT

Sunshine Fund guarantees a little magic in the summer

Grace Penner 3 minute read Preview

Sunshine Fund guarantees a little magic in the summer

Grace Penner 3 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

To this day, I still remember the morning polar plunges into Moose Lake — a cold shock to the system meant to wake campers up before the sun hit its peak.

Read
2:01 AM CDT

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

‘Strong sense of unity’

By Melissa Martin 6 minute read Preview

‘Strong sense of unity’

By Melissa Martin 6 minute read 5:14 PM CDT

Manitoba government and business leaders are rallying behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to fight back, after a sudden collapse of trade talks between the U.S. and Canada sparked a new salvo of U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods.

On Saturday, after Carney vowed to respond with retaliatory tariffs, Manitoba premier Wab Kinew said his government stood “100 per cent” behind the prime minister’s plan to respond to what Kinew called U.S. president Donald Trump’s “unjustified and immoral” tariffs.

“History will not be kind to Donald Trump, so we should never appease him,” Kinew said. “We should fight back, which is what Canada is doing today.”

Kinew met reporters for a brief news conference at the legislature on Saturday afternoon, about an hour after finishing a call with Carney and the other premiers. There was a “really strong sense of unity” on that call, Kinew said, and emphasized that he backs the federal decision to “walk away from what would have been a bad deal.”

Read
5:14 PM CDT