Mira Murati has been working at OpenAI for several years, overseeing the development and delivery of products like ChatGPT and DALL-E. She has now taken on the role of interim chief executive.
At 34 years old, Ms. Murati was appointed as the top executive at the prominent company after OpenAI’s board of directors removed Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO. The company stated that Ms. Murati possesses a “unique skill set” and will ensure “a seamless transition while it conducts a formal search for a permanent C.E.O.”
Although she held the position of chief technology officer since last year, current and former employees mentioned that Ms. Murati had been effectively operating as the company’s head of operations. She has ensured that the engineers develop versions of ChatGPT on schedule and has been responsible for the company’s relationship with Microsoft, as well as shaping its artificial intelligence policy in Washington and Europe.
Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, praised her ability to assemble teams with technical expertise and commercial acumen, stating that she has helped build some of the most exciting A.I. technologies they have ever seen.
Born in Albania and educated in Canada, Ms. Murati is a mechanical engineer by training who built a hybrid race car as an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College. She joined OpenAI in 2018 after working at Tesla and Leap Motion.
Ms. Murati stated that her work at Tesla exposed her to A.I. and inspired her to pursue a career in that field. OpenAI hired her as its vice president of applied A.I. and partnerships, when the company was a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefited all of humanity. It later restructured itself as a for-profit company to raise the necessary funds for building A.I. technologies.
During an event hosted by Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, she expressed her belief in the significance of elevating and increasing the collective intelligence of humanity.
Ms. Murati played a key role in ensuring the distribution of the image generator, DALL-E, and text generator, ChatGPT, which gained popularity after their introduction last year. As these technologies gained traction, she made appearances on “The Daily Show,” Bloomberg TV and at various conferences.
According to Ms. Murati, it is crucial to bring these technologies into the public consciousness in a responsible and safe manner.
