Who is Mira Murati, OpenAI's interim CEO replacing Sam Altman
Mira Murati was appointed as the interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI on Friday after the company's board fired its co-founder, Sam Altman, as they lost confidence in his ability to lead the company. Operations at the company are expected to run smoothly, given that the 34-year-old has been part of OpenAI for some time now. So, here is all you need to know about Murati!
Murati's academic background
Born and raised in Albania, Murati was 16 when she moved to Canada to attend Pearson College UWC after winning a scholarship. She later studied mechanical engineering at the prestigious Ivy League Dartmouth College in the United States (US). As per the New York Times, the 34-year-old built a hybrid race car for her senior project during her time as an undergraduate.
Details on Murati's career graph
Murati began her career as an intern at Goldman Sachs and then at Zodiac Aerospace, after which she spent three years with Tesla working on the Model X vehicle. After a two-year stint with sensor-building startup Leap Motion in 2016, she moved to OpenAI in 2018 as vice president of applied AI and partnerships. At OpenAI, she began working on supercomputing and was soon promoted to chief technology officer in 2022.
Why Maruti was chosen as interim CEO
According to the company, Murati has played a "critical role" in OpenAI's rise as a global AI leader. OpenAI said Murati "brings a unique skill set, understanding of the company's values, operations, and business, and already leads the company's research, product, and safety functions." "Given her long tenure and close engagement with all aspects of the company....the board believes she is uniquely qualified for the role," the statement added.
Here's how Murati reacted to becoming interim CEO of OpenAI
In a memo to staff, which was reviewed by Bloomberg, Maruti said she was "honored and humbled" to step into the leadership role at the company following the ouster of Altman. "We're now at a crucial juncture where our tools are being widely adopted, developers are actively building on our platforms, and policymakers are deliberating on the best ways to regulate these systems," she added.
President of OpenAI also steps down
Altman was fired following a review that found he was "not consistently candid in his communications" with the board. The company said Altman will also leave the board of directors with immediate effect. Hours after Altman's firing, the start-up's co-founder and president, Greg Brockman, also decided to quit the firm. A few days prior to this development, Altman reportedly confirmed that OpenAI is developing GPT-5, an enhanced version of its widely used generative AI model GPT.
