Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, leaves the company

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Mira Murati, OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer who served as interim CEO during the failed coup attempt against founder Sam Altman, is leaving the company.

In a message she sent to company employees on Wednesday, she said: “After careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI.”

Murati was at the company for six and a half years and was named interim CEO during the failed attempt to oust Altman last year. She is the latest in a string of senior executives to leave the Microsoft-backed AI company this year, including founders Ilya Sutskever and John Schulman.

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is one of Silicon Valley's most valuable startups and is in talks to raise more than $6 billion at a $150 billion valuation.

“There's never an ideal time to leave a place you cherish, but this moment feels right,” she added. “Our recent releases of Speech-to-Speech and (latest models) OpenAI o1 mark the beginning of a new era of interaction and intelligence – achievements made possible by your ingenuity and craftsmanship.”

Murati said she was stepping down because she wanted to “create time and space to do my own explorations,” adding that her main focus would be to “ensure a smooth transition.”

“Even though I am no longer in the trenches with you, I will continue to keep my fingers crossed for all of you,” she added.