jgd8b1gu.png
OpenAI's leadership team, from left to right: Mira Murati, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever. Photo: NYT.

Four OpenAI leaders were present in the photo taken in March 2023; only one remains. That is CEO Sam Altman. Two have left, and one is preparing to leave.

The latest to step down is Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati. On September 25th, she announced she would be leaving after 6.5 years with the ChatGPT developer. According to the Wall Street Journal, as one of Altman's close advisors, she was responsible for most of the company's day-to-day operations.

However, Murati also played a role in Altman's ousting last November, before his return just days later. It's reported that she questioned the CEO about governance and shared concerns with the board of directors. The New York Times reported that OpenAI's board relied on her criticisms to force Altman's departure.

Murati's announcement comes as OpenAI prepares to transition its operating model from a non-profit to a for-profit.

Another influential figure in the 2023 effort to oust Altman, who later left OpenAI, was co-founder and board member Ilya Sutskever. He had previously raised concerns about Altman's disregard for the risks of AI and his lack of frankness with the board.

After Altman was reinstated, Sutskever remained as chief scientist but was removed from the board of directors, almost completely distancing himself from the public. He decided to retire in May, after nearly a decade at OpenAI, to found his own AI company called Safe Superintelligence.

The third person in the photo to leave is Chairman Greg Brockman. In May, he shared on X that he would be taking a leave of absence until the end of the year. "First time relaxing since co-founding OpenAI 9 years ago," he wrote.

In addition to the three figures in the iconic photo, OpenAI also lost several other employees. On the same day, September 25th, Director of Research Bob McGrew and Vice President of Research Barret Zoph announced their resignations. Last month, co-founder John Schulman switched to rival company Anthropic.

Altman acknowledged that the loss of high-level talent at OpenAI was unusual.

“Changes in leadership are a natural part of business, especially for fast-growing and demanding companies. Obviously, I can’t pretend that something so sudden is normal, but we’re not a normal company either,” the OpenAI CEO wrote on X.

(According to Fortune)