OpenAI’s leadership is changing dramatically, as CTO Mira Murati, VP of Research Barret Zoph, and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew have all announced their resignation. This comes at a critical time for the firm, which is preparing to raise $6.5 billion and shift to a for-profit benefit corporation.
Three key executives at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced their exits on Wednesday, during a moment of transition and development for the AI startup. Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP of Research Barret Zoph, and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew announced their departure via posts on X (previously Twitter).
OpenAI is now undergoing a large $6.5 billion fundraising round, which could increase the company’s worth to $150 billion. This funding is contingent on modifications to the company’s structure, which include converting to a for-profit benefit corporation and giving CEO Sam Altman an ownership share. Previously, OpenAI had a unique organizational structure, with a non-profit board overseeing its for-profit activities.
Though the investment round has not yet been completed, the departure of senior leaders raises concerns about whether it will undermine investor trust. According to Reuters, some partnerships have conditions that allow investors to withdraw if the firm has a severe negative impact, although it is unclear whether this circumstance would raise such worries.
Mira Murati, who has worked with OpenAI for six and a half years, is currently discussing her resignation. She joined the firm as VP of Applied AI and Partnerships in December 2020, and was elevated to CTO in May 2022. Murati had a prominent role, frequently appearing alongside Altman to advocate OpenAI publicly. She was especially active in the release of GPT-4 in May 2023, which featured AI models capable of more realistic speech communications.
Murati said on X that she is stepping down to focus on personal discovery. According to the story, she is still working with OpenAI while negotiating her leave. Murati temporarily served as CEO of OpenAI in November 2023, during a leadership shift.
The departures of Murati, Zoph, and McGrew follow other major leadership changes at OpenAI this year. Co-founder John Schulman resigned in August to join rival AI startup Anthropic, while Greg Brockman, another co-founder, has declared a sabbatical. Ilya Sutskever, the Chief Scientist, also left earlier in May.
Following the news of these departures, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, announced internal promotions, including Matt Knight as Chief Information Security Officer and Mark Chen as Senior Vice President of Research. Altman noted that Murati had not notified him of her choice in advance, but she indicated that she wanted to depart while the firm was doing well.