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 (690 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

A Life's Story: Woman fought for better outcomes for others amid cancer fight

Janine LeGal 7 minute read Preview

A Life's Story: Woman fought for better outcomes for others amid cancer fight

Janine LeGal 7 minute read Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

Catherine Mary Burke was strong and motivated in ways many of us could never imagine.

She was known for fighting the good fight, and she fought as hard as she could for as long as she could. But something set her apart. Even when it was too late for her, she insisted cancer survival rates had to be better for other women. And they are today because of her fierce determination.

Burke died on Nov. 29, 2025, at age 67 after courageously facing breast cancer for more than a decade.

“Cathy was born happy,” said her husband, Patrick Burke. “She was a glass-half-full person. What a gift this attitude was to me and the boys. She never once said ‘Why me?’ or complained. She was just so happy to be alive.

Read
Yesterday at 3:00 AM CDT

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Preview

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Libra.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

The day is a mixed bag. For the most part, it’s romantic, friendly, congenial and a great time to socialize with others and enjoy playful activities with kids. Nevertheless, you might meet a real sourpuss or someone who is a wet blanket. Keep things light!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Poilievre’s lips moving, but Canadians aren’t interested in what he’s saying

Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read Preview

Poilievre’s lips moving, but Canadians aren’t interested in what he’s saying

Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

Pierre Poilievre’s biggest political challenge right now isn’t Prime Minister Mark Carney’s popularity.

It’s the fact that he still seems to be campaigning against a political landscape that no longer exists.

More than a year after the 2025 federal election, the Conservative leader is still relying on the same message, the same themes and the same attacks that defined his party’s campaign before voters went to the polls.

And Canadians appear to be tuning it out.

Read
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

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

Matt O'brien, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

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

Matt O'brien, The Associated Press 3 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2024

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.

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.

Read
Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2024

Don’t be a big loser — check out Real Love Summer Fest ReunionBig Loser takes the stage at 8:20 p.m. tonight as part of the Real Love Summer Fest Reunion, a one-day event put on by the indie promotion company, which ran the festival in the Interlake area for a decade until last summer’s final edition near Teulon.

Bookers Gil Carroll and Adam Soloway have programmed a full day of music at Blue Note Park (220 Main St.), the outdoor venue adjacent to Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club.

First up at 4 p.m. is folk-rock songwriter tofusmell, followed at 5 p.m. with a rare performance by indie-songwriting darlings Animal Teeth, a group with several summer fest bills under its belt. Up-and-coming pop-rockers Synthetic Friend take the stage at 6, followed at 7 by the fun electronic dance pop of French Class.

After playing with his full band at last month’s Winnipeg Folk Festival, Amos the Kid will perform a solo set at 8 p.m. Sans band, the performer shows off his affable roots as a Gord Downie acolyte with catchy earworms to match.

Big Loser’s latest a winning mix of country, folk

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Big Loser’s latest a winning mix of country, folk

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

The yellow trucker hat for sale on Facebook Marketplace said “Selkirk Lumber,” so Adam Wayne Brown knew he had to hammer home a deal.

Like the other millennial members of Winnipeg folk-country band Big Loser, the bassist has an affinity for the nostalgic, taking every opportunity — through music, through lyrics and through wardrobe — to recall the unique circumstances of growing up in a changing Interlake.

“I remember the matte yellow trucks driving around — the lumber trucks — and so I’ve had this strange memory of something disappearing from my youth and then persisting,” says Brown, who, like the band’s frontman Alex Paradoski, moved to Winnipeg more than a decade ago.

“I have a photo of the Lockport Bridge in my dining room,” chimes in Paradoski, whose first job as a teenager was bunning wieners and chopping fries at Skinner’s, a drive-in mainstay since 1929 along Highway 44.

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT