Sam Altman to Depart OpenAI, Mira Murati to become interim CEO

A new era of leadership at OpenAI - what is going on at the OpenAI Board?

OpenAI recently dropped a significant leadership change in classic corporate style — 4P EST on a Friday… (link). Sam Altman, who has been the CEO since the company's pivot from a non-profit to a capped-profit entity, will be stepping down. Mira Murati, a key figure in the company, will take over as the interim CEO.

Notably, Greg Brockman also stepped down as the Chair of the Board — implying governance issues at the board-level. There also appears to be grievances from the board in terms of Sam’s communications — enough so where he is fully out at the company rather than stepping down into another role like Chairman:

“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI... As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.”

(Pictured: Ilya Sutskever (Co-founder and Chief Scientist), Sam Altman (Former CEO), Mira Murati (Former CTO, now Interim CEO), Greg Brockman (Co-founder, Current President and Former Chairman of the Board)

OpenAI’s board has experienced significant changes this year, with Sam’s departure marking the 4th board member to leave just this year: Reid Hoffman left due to investment conflicts, Elon Musk associate and Neuralink exec Shivon Zillis left in March, while Will Hurd left in July per Bloomberg. The majority of the board is independent, and the independent directors do not hold equity in OpenAI. OpenAI’s board of directors consists of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, independent directors Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Toner. As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO. Below details the organizational structure of OpenAI:

(note: the board of directors has decreased from 9 to now 5, signaling challenges)

Sam’s legacy at OpenAI

Sam Altman, previously known for his role as the president of Y Combinator, joined OpenAI and has been instrumental in its growth and development. Sam Altman's Wikipedia page provides more details on his career. Under Altman's leadership, OpenAI shifted to a capped-profit model in 2019, significantly expanded its research capabilities, and launched groundbreaking AI technologies like GPT and DALL-E. It remains unclear what is next for Sam, as the announcement details essentially no ongoing role at the company — this feels quite harsh and the details for why the board felt misled are unclear.

Mira Murati - A Brief Biography

Mira Murati has been a pivotal figure at OpenAI, having joined the company in 2018 after a run at Tesla and most recently served as the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Before OpenAI, Murati had substantial experience in engineering and product development, having worked at Tesla and other tech companies. She also was once an intern at Goldman Sachs and is a Dartmouth grad originally from Albania. She is known for her advocacy on the regulation of AI, arguing governments should play a role therein. This video describes her bio quite well.

Her Wikipedia page offers an overview of her career trajectory and contributions (unfortunately it appears her LinkedIn recently was deleted). Just a few weeks ago, Mira and Sam together gave an interview with WSJ on the future of AI and ChatGPT.

What motivated the change?

While no reason has yet to have been given, there is much speculation about the departure. On YC, some suggested a security breach could be at play:

Others pointed to potential issues with governance around fundraising (tweet):

At this point, no one seems to know. More to come…