Mira Murati departure leaves OpenAI with few women

In a post on X, Murati wrote that she is stepping down “to create the time and space to do my own exploration.” The company did not immediately say who would be stepping into the CTO role, and Murati did not specify when her last day is.

“There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right,” she wrote, noting the company’s recent releases of a speech-to-speech chat feature and its new landmark reasoning model, o1. 

“For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we’ve built,” she continued.

The reasoning behind Murati’s seemingly sudden departure remains to be seen, but the move comes shortly after CEO Sam Altman announced the company is being restructured into a for-profit. And Murati is far from the first high profile employee to leave the technology company in recent months, following internal strife.

Last year, the Albanian-born tech executive briefly led the company when Altman was ousted by the board in a dramatic reshuffle; he was later reinstated. 

Murati reportedly raised concerns about Altman to the company’s board before his abrupt firing, but she publicly supported his return. He responded to Murati’s post on X Wednesday, thanking her for her work and saying the company will “say more about the transition plans soon.” Murati also thanked Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, who is currently on leave through the end of the year, in her tweet.

A Fortune cover story last year details how instrumental Murati was in building OpenAI, which is best known for its ChatGPT product; now, the shakeup leaves one of AI’s most important companies with one fewer female executive at a time when the field can hardly afford to lose any more. (In June, OpenAI hired former Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar as its chief financial officer, a role she still holds.) What Murati does next remains unclear.

“I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to build and work alongside this remarkable team,” she wrote on X. “While I may no longer be in the trenches with you, I will still be rooting for you all.”

Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com

The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

– Secret weapon. Laurene Powell Jobs, one of the richest women in the world with a fortune of $11 billion, has grown into a close friend and confidant of Vice President Kamala Harris, donating millions towards her campaign and quietly helping usher President Joe Biden out of the race. New York Times 

– Denim dreams. Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass is pushing back the company’s goal to reach $9 billion to $10 billion in revenue by 2027. The company brought in $6.2 billion in revenue for the year ending Nov. 6, 2023. Gass said, “[S]ince those [initial] goals were shared, there has been a lot of disruption in the industry.” Financial Times

– New CEO. Germany’s Commerzbank appointed CFO Bettina Orlopp as its new chief executive officer, making her the first woman to hold the position since the bank was established in 1870. Commerzbank is facing a potential takeover from rival bank UniCredit, which became the largest shareholder in Commerzbank earlier this week. Bloomberg

– Behind bars. Caroline Ellison, former Alameda Research CEO and advisor to Sam Bankman-Fried, received a two-year prison sentence for her role in FTX’s $8 billion fraud scandal and collapse in 2022. She pleaded guilty in December 2022. Reuters

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

The American Civil Liberties Union named Cecillia Wang national legal director. Currently, she is a deputy legal director and director of the ACLU Center for Democracy.

The Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association, International named Barbara Barclay executive director. She is the founder and CEO of Fresh Eye Analytics.

Confluent, a data streaming platform, appointed Colleen McCreary as chief people officer. Previously, she was a partner at Ribbit Capital.

ESSENCE named Monique Manso chief revenue officer and Barkue Tubman Zawolo chief community officer. Most recently, Manso was vice president of global brand partnerships at WME Fashion and Tubman Zawolo was ESSENCE’s chief of staff.

ON MY RADAR

Rebecca Lobo helped build the W.N.B.A. Now she’s calling its next chapter New York Times

Sports mascots were very dude-coded. Then came Ellie the Elephant Washington Post

How a Meghan Markle-backed beverage brand broke into national retailers Inc.

PARTING WORDS

“​​[N]o one’s thinking about your career as much as you are.”

— WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert on advocating for work-life balance

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