OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is leaving

OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is leaving the company, she announced on Wednesday.

"I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," she wrote in a post on X. "For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we've built."

This comes almost a year after a boardroom coup shook the AI startup and temporarily ousted CEO Sam Altman, leaving Murati as its temporary leader. Prior to OpenAI, Murati worked at Tesla on its AI efforts.

In her six-year tenure, Murati was responsible for managing the company's popular chatbot, ChatGPT, as well as its text-to-image generator, DALL-E.

This news also comes at a seemingly cursed time for OpenAI. The company's annual Dev Day conference is coming to San Francisco just next week, where the company typically announces updates for AI developer tools. Last year, the boardroom coup happened just after the first-ever Dev Day took place.

"It's hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally," Altman said in a reply to Murati's note. "I feel tremendous gratitude towards her for what she has helped us build and accomplish, but I most of all feel personal gratitude towards her for the support and love during all the hard times. I am excited for what she'll do next."

Altman added that the company will say more about its transition plans "soon."