Enlarge / Mira Murati, chief technology officer of OpenAI, speaks during The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live Conference in Laguna Beach, California, on October 17, 2023. (credit: PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, OpenAI Chief Technical Officer Mira Murati announced she is leaving the company in a surprise resignation shared on the social network X. Murati joined OpenAI in 2018, serving for six-and-a-half years in various leadership roles, most recently as the CTO. Also on Wednesday, OpenAI Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and VP of Research Barret Zoph resigned independently of each other, but perhaps precipitated by the Murati news, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

“After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI,” Murati wrote in a letter to the company’s staff. “While I’ll express my gratitude to many individuals in the coming days, I want to start by thanking Sam and Greg for their trust in me to lead the technical organization and for their support throughout the years,” she continued, referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. “There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right.”

At OpenAI, Murati was in charge of overseeing the company’s technical strategy and product development, including the launch and improvement of DALL-E, Codex, Sora, and the ChatGPT platform, while also leading research and safety teams. In public appearances, Murati often spoke about ethical considerations in AI development.