Mira Murati named interim CEO of OpenAI after Sam Altman's dismissal

By: Mark Jessy

November 20, 2023 6:59 AM

Altman was fired by the board of directors due to what they described as his "not being constantly transparent in his communications with those on the board."

According to a blog post published on November 17, ChatGPT developer OpenAI has dismissed creator Sam Altman from his position as CEO. Mira Murati, chief technology officer, will be named interim CEO. According to the post, the board of directors conducted a "deliberative review process," which concluded that Altman "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities."

The board of directors of OpenAI stated that it will continue to develop artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

"OpenAI was purposefully designed to further our mission: to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all humanity." The board is still completely dedicated to carrying out this purpose. Mira is uniquely suited to fill the job of temporary CEO. We have complete faith in her abilities to lead OpenAI during this transition phase."

The board also expressed gratitude for "Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI," but asserted that "new leadership is required as we move forward." Greg Brockman, the board's chairman, will also leave his position. He will, however, continue to work as an employee, "reporting to the CEO," according to the article.

Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever are on the board of directors. The majority of board members, according to the post, are "independent directors" who do not own stock in OpenAI.

Mira Murati is OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer and interim CEO. Source: OpenAI

Mira Murati, the named interim CEO, is an engineer with Albanian ancestry and a Dartmouth degree who has been acknowledged for her contributions to major OpenAI technologies as Chief Technology Officer and will assume the interim CEO role for OpenAI. Ms. Murati has worked in aerospace, automotive, virtual reality, and augmented reality, and she was a senior product manager at Tesla, where she contributed to the Model X. She also collaborated with Leap Motion, integrating artificial intelligence into real-world applications. In 2018, she joined OpenAI.