OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati Exits Ahead of DevDay, Sparking Leadership Questions

Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI, announced on Wednesday via a post on X (formerly Twitter) that she is leaving the AI company. After over six years with OpenAI, Murati stated she was stepping away to pursue new personal explorations.

In her post, Murati wrote, “After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI. There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right.”

An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment beyond Murati’s tweet, and CEO Sam Altman responded by expressing gratitude in a separate post, stating, “We’ll say more about the transition plans soon, but for now, I want to take a moment to just feel thanks.”

Murati’s decision to leave comes just one week before OpenAI’s annual developer conference, DevDay, raising curiosity about how the company will handle this leadership shift in a pivotal moment.

Murati’s Role at OpenAI

Murati joined OpenAI in 2018 as Vice President of Applied AI and Partnerships before being promoted to CTO in 2022.

Under her leadership, OpenAI developed several high-profile AI innovations, including the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, text-to-image generator DALL-E, and Codex, which powers GitHub’s Copilot. Her expertise helped catapult OpenAI to the forefront of the AI industry.

In addition to her contributions to OpenAI's product success, Murati briefly served as interim CEO in late 2023, after the abrupt firing of CEO Sam Altman by OpenAI’s former board. It was reported that Murati, along with former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, had raised concerns about Altman’s behavior before his temporary removal.

Altman has since regained control of OpenAI, and his vision for the company is becoming more assertive. Recently, he penned a blog post forecasting the development of “superintelligence” in the near future—a bold prediction that underscores his ambitious agenda for OpenAI.

Murati’s exit adds another layer of complexity to the shifting dynamics at OpenAI, especially as Altman continues to solidify his leadership and steer the company's public image.

Murati’s Career Beyond OpenAI

Before joining OpenAI, Murati’s background spanned several influential tech sectors.

With a degree in mechanical engineering from Dartmouth College, she worked at Tesla for three years as a senior product manager for the Model X. Murati was involved in the development of early versions of Tesla’s Autopilot, the company's AI-enabled driver-assistance software.

She also served as VP of Product and Engineering at Leap Motion, a startup focused on hand-tracking and motion sensors for VR, where she sought to make interacting with computers as intuitive as playing with a ball.

However, Murati eventually concluded that the technology was too early for mass adoption.

Murati’s departure leaves a significant gap in OpenAI's leadership, especially given her deep involvement in shaping its core products. As OpenAI’s DevDay approaches, attention will likely turn to how Altman and his team manage the transition and continue their pursuit of cutting-edge AI advancements.

With Murati stepping away, the AI community will undoubtedly watch closely to see what new ventures she embarks on and how OpenAI handles this key leadership shift.