{"id":30161,"date":"2026-05-06T21:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/30161\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:50:09","slug":"openai-ceo-sam-altman-was-dishonest-caused-chaos-ex-exec-mira-murati-says-in-bombshell-testimony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/30161\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was dishonest, caused ‘chaos,’ ex-exec Mira Murati says in bombshell testimony"},"content":{"rendered":"

OpenAI\u2019s former head of technology Mira Murati slammed CEO Sam Altman as an untrustworthy leader who fomented strife among the company\u2019s top ranks \u2014 stunning testimony that was shared Wednesday in Elon Musk\u2019s bombshell lawsuit against the artificial intelligence giant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Altman created an environment where OpenAI executives were pitted against each other, creating \u201cchaos\u201d in a way that \u201cundermined\u201d her ability to do her job, Murati alleged.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern was about Sam saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another person,\u201d she said in taped testimony played in Oakland, Calif., federal court.<\/p>\n

Former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati. REUTERS<\/p>\n

When asked if she felt that Altman was not always candid with her, Murati replied, \u201cNot always.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy issues with Sam were very much around management,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The testimony came in the second week of a trial that has gripped Silicon Valley and beyond. Musk\u2019s suit accuses Altman and OpenAI\u2019s President Greg Brockman of betraying the company\u2019s founding contract<\/a> by putting commercial gain over creating AI for public benefit. The ChatGPT maker has rejected the allegations, claiming Musk actually supported its transformation into a for-profit business.<\/p>\n

The Tesla titan is seeking up to $180 billion in damages and a court order for OpenAI to unwind its for-profit status. Musk also wants Altman booted from the company\u2019s board.\u00a0In his own testimony last week, he said he\u2019d been a \u201cfool\u201d to trust Altman with the future of the company.<\/p>\n

After Altman was temporarily fired by the board of directors<\/a> in November 2023, Murati briefly served as CEO. She has since left OpenAI and co-founded her own AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab.<\/p>\n

Still, she said in her testimony that she previously supported an effort to bring Altman back as CEO, pressing board members for a fuller explanation for why they\u2019d ousted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized the board had not followed a process that could be trusted with regards to firing Sam,\u201d Murati said. \u201cAs we can see in retrospect, the way [board members] handled it caused complete and utter chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mira Murati attends the 2026 Met Gala on Monday in Manhattan. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Murati \u2014 who was seen in a glam dress at Monday\u2019s Met Gala in Manhattan \u2014 detailed the chaos surrounding Altman\u2019s ouster and how it threatened the company\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpenAI was at catastrophic risk of falling apart,\u201d she said. \u201cI was concerned about the company completely blowing up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

The exec added that she kept in close contact with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the tumultuous time. Text messages were displayed showing she texted him asking that he call her to coordinate \u201chow to talk with sam here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murati called Nadella a \u201cvoice of reason,\u201d adding, \u201cit was kind of a crazy situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft said last month it was no longer paying part of its revenue to OpenAI, the latest in a series of steps to loosen a close partnership between the firms.<\/p>\n

Murati said competing AI companies \u2013 specifically Google and Musk\u2019s AI outfits \u2013 tried to swoop in to poach OpenAI staff amid the chaos of Altman\u2019s firing and eventual rehiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cVery important we don\u2019t lose researches to Demis or Elon,\u201d Murati texted Nadella, referring to Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google\u2019s DeepMind.<\/p>\n

Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner took some shots at Murati in a video testimony that was also played Wednesday in court, describing her as two-faced about Altman\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was waiting to see which way the wind would blow,\u201d Toner said, adding that Murati was \u201cnot willing to stick her neck out\u201d and implied she was worried about \u201cblowback for her career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post\u2019s owner, News Corp, has a content-licensing deal with OpenAI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OpenAI\u2019s former head of technology Mira Murati slammed CEO Sam Altman as an untrustworthy leader who fomented strife…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[309,157,370,781],"class_list":{"0":"post-30161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-openai","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-openai","10":"tag-sam-altman","11":"tag-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}