OpenAI's Indian-origin CTO Mira Murati resigns, two other key executives to also leave
Three top technical leaders at Microsoft-backed OpenAI quit on Wednesday, the latest in a string of executive departures this year coming at a time of flux for the ChatGPT maker.
Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP Research Barret Zoph and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew all announced their departures via X on Wednesday afternoon.
The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup is negotiating a new $6.5 billion financing round valuing the company at $150 billion, contingent on the company upending its corporate structure.
The company plans to restructure to a for-profit benefit corporation and will give CEO Sam Altman an equity stake, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Currently, a non-profit board controls the for-profit entity, an unusual structure which led to members of the non-profit board ousting Altman in November 2023 over a breakdown in communication and loss of trust. He was reinstated after five days.
The funding round has not closed yet and the company is in the process of finalising it.
It was unclear whether the executives' departure could affect the ongoing fundraise. Some fundraising documents contain a "material adverse change" clause which allows investors to withdraw from a deal if the company encounters anything that could have a significant negative impact.
Murati is still working at OpenAI while she negotiates her exit from the company, according to a source close to Murati. She has been part of the ChatGPT maker for 6-1/2 years, and briefly served as CEO in November when the board temporarily Altman.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Murati joined OpenAI as the "VP of Applied AI and Partnerships" in December 2020 and was promoted to CTO in May 2022. Prior to OpenAI, she worked at virtual and augmented reality startup Leap Motion and at Tesla .
As CTO, Murati frequently appeared alongside Altman as the public face of the ChatGPT maker. When OpenAI launched its GPT-4o model in May, capable of having realistic voice conversation, Murati led
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