OpenAI appoints Mira Murati as interim CEO

Update Nov. 20, 2023: CNBC confirmed that Emmett Shear has taken over OpenAI following Sam Altman’s departure. The original story is included below.

Update Nov. 19, 2023: Multiple sources suggest that OpenAI’s board is discussing rehiring Sam Altman after firing him. Our original story remains below.

OpenAI has made a strategic decision to appoint Mira Murati as its interim CEO, taking over from Sam Altman, the former creator of the highly acclaimed AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. At 35 years old, Murati is recognized as the genius behind ChatGPT and played a crucial role in its creation. Murati joined OpenAI in 2018 as the Vice President of AI and Partnerships and quickly climbed the ranks to become Senior Vice President of Research, Product, and Partnerships in 2020. In 2022, Murati was promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) before assuming the role of interim CEO.

OpenAI credits Murati with being instrumental in steering the company’s evolution from a startup to an AI powerhouse. The company’s official statement released on Friday emphasized Murati’s unique expertise and highlighted his current leadership in research, product development, and safety functions.

Born in Albania in 1988, Murati’s journey from his homeland to becoming a key figure in Silicon Valley’s AI landscape is nothing short of remarkable. Departing for Vancouver, Canada, on a scholarship at the age of 16, Murati earned an engineering degree at Dartmouth College and went on to contribute significantly to the development of Tesla‘s Model X, among other accomplishments.

As OpenAI’s CTO, Murati led teams responsible for groundbreaking projects like DALL-E, capable of generating art from text prompts, and the widely popular ChatGPT.

Murati’s appointment as interim CEO comes at a pivotal moment for OpenAI. ChatGPT, recognized for its groundbreaking AI research and development, is poised to generate a staggering $1 billion in revenue this year. Under Murati’s leadership, ChatGPT achieved unprecedented success, amassing 100 million monthly active users within two months of its November 2022 launch, solidifying its status as the fastest-growing consumer app in history.

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In an interview with Time magazine, Murati affectionately referred to ChatGPT as his “baby” and expressed concerns about the potential risks associated with artificial intelligence. He emphasized the reciprocal relationship between technology and human influence, highlighting the need for diverse voices, including philosophers, social scientists, artists, and humanities experts, to address the ethical and philosophical questions surrounding AI’s social impact. Murati stressed the importance of directing AI models to align with human purposes, ultimately serving the best interests of humanity.