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OpenAI has confirmed the departures of three prominent executives, as plans for a for-profit transition unfold.
Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and Vice President of Research Barret Zoph left OpenAI on 25 September, following an earlier announcement from CTO Mira Murati, who also revealed her resignation.
Sam Altman later confirmed the resignations and shared plans for the leadership transitions.
i just posted this note to openai:
Hi All–
Mira has been instrumental to OpenAI’s progress and growth the last 6.5 years; she has been a hugely significant factor in our development from an unknown research lab to an important company.
When Mira informed me this morning that…
— Sam Altman (@sama) September 26, 2024
The CEO stated that VP of Research Mark Chen will be promoted to Senior Vice President of Research and lead OpenAI’s research division alongside Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki. Research scientist Josh Achiam will become Head of Mission Alignment, while Matt Knight, previously in charge of security, will serve as Chief Information Security Officer. Kevin Weil, who is the Chief Product Officer, and Srinivas Narayanan, the VP of Engineering, will continue in their duties leading the applied team dedicated to enterprise and consumer technology.
These departures are the latest in a series of executive exits at OpenAI this year, occurring during a period of significant change for the ChatGPT creator. Earlier this year, research scientist Andrej Karpathy departed in February, followed by Sutskever and safety lead Jan Leike in May. Co-founder John Schulman departed last month for Anthropic, and President Greg Brockman is currently on leave until year-end.
OpenAI Continues For-Profit Transition
The executive changes coincide with reports that OpenAI plans to restructure its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation, which will operate independently of its nonprofit board, according to Reuters.
The OpenAI nonprofit will continue to exist and retain a minority stake in the new entity. CEO Sam Altman will receive equity in the for-profit company for the first time. The proposed structure outlines significant governance changes and is still being finalized with lawyers and shareholders, although the timeline for completion remains unclear.
OpenAI is also pursuing a funding round that might elevate the company’s valuation to over $150 billion, with Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, and Thrive Capital reportedly in discussions to invest. This round may reach up to $6.5 billion and is contingent on a change in the company’s corporate structure.
