OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, previously announced her departure from the company, and now CEO Sam Altman has revealed that two other executives, Barrett Zoff and Bob McGrew, are also leaving the company. In a memo to staff, Altman also outlined his replacement.
Thank you for subscribing!
Access your favorite topics on the go with your personalized feed. Download the App
By clicking “Sign Up”, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time by visiting your settings page or clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of our emails.
Mira Murati announced on Wednesday that she was leaving OpenAI, where she served as chief technology officer, joining two other leaders in departing, according to CEO Sam Altman. Altman posted a memo to OpenAI staff on X just after 5 p.m. Pacific time.
Altman said “Barrett and Bob” were leaving OpenAI: Barrett Zoff, who served as the company’s vice president of research, and Bob McGrew, who served as its chief research officer.
This article is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Sign up to become an Insider member and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the departure, but Zoff sent a memo to X confirming his departure and saying he had decided to leave OpenAI, and The Verge’s Kylie Robison posted to X that McGrew had left the company.
Read the note Altman posted to X below:
I posted this note to OpenAI: Hello everyone. Mira has contributed greatly to the progress and growth of OpenAI over the past six and a half years. She has played a critical role in our evolution from an obscure research lab to an important company. When Mira told me this morning that she was retiring, I was saddened, but of course I support her decision. Over the past year, she has developed a strong leadership team that will continue our progress. I would also like to announce that Bob and Barret have decided to leave OpenAI. While Mira, Bob, and Barret each made these decisions independently and amicably, given the timing of Mira’s decision, it made sense to do this all at once so that we can work together toward a smooth transition to the next generation of leadership. I am extremely grateful for the contributions of all of them. Being the leader of OpenAI is all-consuming. On the one hand, it is a privilege to be the fastest-growing company building AGI and putting our advanced research into the hands of hundreds of millions of people. On the other hand, it is relentless to lead a team through its challenges. And they have gone above and beyond for the company. Mark will be our new SVP of Research, co-leading our research organization with our Chief Scientist, Jakub. This has been a long-term plan for him to take over for Bob in the future. It is happening sooner than we thought it would, but we are very excited to have Mark in the role. Mark clearly has deep technical expertise, but he has also learned how to be a leader and manager in a very impressive way over the past few years. Josh Akiam will take on the new role of Mission Coordination Officer, working across the company to ensure all the pieces (and culture) are in place to make our mission a success. Kevin and Srinivas will continue to lead the Applied team. Matt Knight, who has already served in this role for a long time, will become our Chief Information Security Officer. This has been something we have been planning for quite some time. Mark, Jakub, Kevin, Srinivas, Matt and Josh will report to me. Over the past year or so, I have spent most of my time in the non-technical parts of the organization, but going forward, I look forward to spending most of my time in the technical and product parts of the company. We will meet tonight at 5:30pm in 575. Mira, Bob, Barret and Mark will be there. This is to thank and reflect on all that we have accomplished together. And then tomorrow we will have an all-hands meeting where we will answer your questions. A calendar invite will be sent out shortly. Leadership changes are natural in companies, especially fast-growing and demanding companies. Of course, I’m not saying this is abrupt or anything, but we are not a normal company. I think the reasons Mira explained to me (there is no good time, if it’s not sudden it will leak, and she wanted to do this when OpenAI was going strong) make sense. Let’s talk more about this in tomorrow’s all-hands meeting. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication so far. Sam
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
