Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Laurene Powell Jobs is playing a key role in Kamala Harris's campaign, Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass is pushing back its $10 billion revenue goal, and Mira Murati announced her resignation from OpenAI. Have a terrific Thursday!
- OpenAI exit. Another day, another sudden departure of a key OpenAI executive. After more than six years as one of the most visible members of one of the buzziest companies in the world, Mira Murati announced Wednesday she is stepping down from her role as the chief technology officer of OpenAI and leaving the company to focus on her own ventures.
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
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