All the top OpenAI figures who have left since the 2023 attempt to oust CEO Sam Altman

Alex BitterSep 27, 2024, 17:24 IST

Mira Murati became one of the latest OpenAI leaders to leave the company on Wednesday.OpenAI<ul class="summary-list"><li>OpenAI has lost a slew of key leaders since last year's effort to push out CEO <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-private-home-office-includes-tech-artefacts-hand-ax-2024-9">Sam Altman</a>.</li><li>Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati became the latest high-profile employee to leave on Wednesday.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-future-abundant-energy-intelligence-growth-2024-9">OpenAI</a> has lost a lot of top talent over the last months.The latest example came on Wednesday when Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati said she would leave the company behind ChatGPT.Shortly afterward, CEO Sam Altman said that two other executives, Bob McGrew and Barret Zoph, would also leave OpenAI.Altman said <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-note-more-staff-exits-barret-bob-2024-9">in a memo</a> announcing McGrew's and Zoph's departures that "leadership changes are a natural part of companies, especially companies that grow so quickly and are so demanding."He added: "I obviously won't pretend it's natural for this one to be so abrupt, but we are not a normal company."Like many companies, OpenAI has seen turnover among its highest ranks since its founding in 2015. Cofounder <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-openai-company-chatgpt-elon-musk-founded-2022-12#in-2018-three-years-after-helping-found-the-company-musk-resigned-from-openais-board-of-directors-5">Elon Musk</a> left the company's board in 2018, for example.But since an attempt to <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-ousted-fired-openai-ceo-chatgpt-maker-2023-11">oust Altman as OpenAI's CEO</a> last November, the company has lost multiple executives and key leaders.Altman's attempted ouster involved some members of OpenAI's board as well as top company employees. <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-openai-board-members-challenge-self-governance-sam-altman-2024-5">Former board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley</a>, who left the board after the failed ouster, said that Altman had created "a toxic culture of lying."Toner and McCauley have also pointed to a broader divide in OpenAI: Some employees, including many who have quit since November, have called for <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/another-openai-employee-quits-over-safety-concerns-2024-5">more independent oversight of companies developing AI technologies</a>. Others believe companies like OpenAI can regulate themselves.The departures have even become numerous enough to prompt <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.google.com/search?q=openai+mira+murati+business+insider&sca_esv=4b94f3f1e0097547&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1094US1095&ei=YX_1ZtGdO96e5NoPno-PwAI&ved=0ahUKEwiR0tL39-CIAxVeD1kFHZ7HAygQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=openai+mira+murati+business+insider&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiI29wZW5haSBtaXJhIG11cmF0aSBidXNpbmVzcyBpbnNpZGVyMgUQIRigAUjZElCkA1iAEnABeAGQAQGYAeACoAGmEaoBCDMuMTEuMC4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIPoALNEMICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFwgIOEAAYsAMY5AIY1gTYAQHCAhMQLhiABBiwAxhDGMgDGIoF2AEBwgIZEC4YgAQYsAMY0QMYQxjHARjIAxiKBdgBAcICBBAAGAPCAgUQABiABMICBhAAGBYYHsICBRAhGKsCwgIFECEYnwXCAgUQIRiSA5gDAIgGAZAGE7oGBggBEAEYCZIHCDMuMTEuMC4xoAfDTA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp">memes on social media</a>. OpenAI is also functioning without President <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-leadership-changes-brockman-deng-schulman-anthropic-departures-2024-8">Greg Brockman</a>, who is on a leave of absence until the end of 2024.Here are 10 leaders who have left OpenAI since the standoff last November:

Helen Toner

Helen Toner at the 2023 Vox Media Code Conference in Dana Point, California.Jerod Harris/Getty

Tasha McCauley

Tasha McCauley resigned from OpenAI's board in 2023.Randy Shropshire/Getty

Andrej Karpathy

Karpathy is a co-founder of OpenAI.San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images/Contributor/Getty Images

Jan Leike

Leike announced his departure from OpenAI in a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, in May. That month, he took a job as a co-lead of Anthropic's alignment science team.

At OpenAI, Leike was co-head of the company's Superalignment team. Leike and co-founder Ilya Sutskever had been charged by OpenAI with leading a team to figure out how to keep AI safe for humans to use. The goal of the Superalignment team is to "ensure AI systems much smarter than humans follow human intent," according to a post on OpenAI's website from last year.

While he praised his team in the posts, he also said: "I have been disagreeing with OpenAI leadership about the company's core priorities for quite some time, until we finally reached a breaking point."

He added in a subsequent post that "over the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products."

Ilya Sutskever

Ilya Sutskever cofounded OpenAI and helped build ChatGPT.JACK GUEZ/Getty Images

Peter Deng

Deng, who was vice president of product at OpenAI, left earlier this year after joining the company in 2023, The Information reported in August.

His LinkedIn page still lists him at the company. Deng did not respond to a request for comment.

John Schulman

Schulman left OpenAI in August for a job at Anthropic, he said on X at the time.

"This choice stems from my desire to deepen my focus on AI alignment, and to start a new chapter of my career where I can return to hands-on technical work," he wrote on X.

Schulman was a cofounder and research scientist at OpenAI, according to his website. "It's the first and only company where I've ever worked, other than an internship," he said of OpenAI in his farewell post on X.

Mira Murati

Mira Murati spent six-and-a-half years at OpenAI before announcing her departure.Bloomberg/ Getty Images

Bob McGrew

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Barret Zoph