Throughout it all, one unassuming character seemed to be everywhere at once: OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. At first, she was made interim CEO, before immediately ceding the position to outsider Emmett Shear. Within days, Altman was back at the helm of the company, and the board that had come together to remove him was largely gone.<\/p>\n
Murati had publicly supported Altman\u2019s reinstatement and posted online in favor of him returning to his role at the company. But over time, reports<\/a> surfaced that she had had a significant hand in his ouster. She had, by some accounts, more or less started the internal conversation about concerns surrounding Altman and funneled a significant amount of information<\/a> \u2014 including screenshots, documentation of text messages, and allegations of mismanagement during Altman\u2019s time at Y Combinator \u2014 to cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who then took his concerns to the OpenAI board in the form of a 52-page memo. In testimony this week, former board member Helen Toner said that Murati and Sutskever\u2019s concerns had materially advanced the board\u2019s own, relating to a pattern of deceit, Altman\u2019s \u201cresistance\u201d of board oversight, and his \u201cmanipulation\u201d of board processes and management problems.<\/p>\n On November 16th, 2023, four members of OpenAI\u2019s board of directors \u2014 Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D\u2019Angelo, and Tasha McCauley \u2014 unanimously signed a document<\/a> terminating Altman\u2019s employment with OpenAI and naming Murati the new interim CEO.<\/p>\n Though Murati had, by many accounts, played an integral part in the entire lead-up to Altman\u2019s ouster, Murati almost immediately seemed to switch her support to Altman.<\/p>\n In 78 text messages<\/a> exchanged over a 14-hour period, between early Sunday evening and Monday morning, Murati and Altman talked at length about whether his reinstatement would be possible and what would happen next. Altman said that D\u2019Angelo, a board member, was \u201ctrying to get the board to agree to a configuration\u201d but that Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had told D\u2019Angelo that that \u201cdoesn\u2019t work and that [they] need to start preparing for plan b.\u201d<\/p>\n Around 2:30AM on Monday morning, Altman asked, \u201ccan you indicate directionally good or bad? satya and others anxious.\u201d<\/p>\n Murati responded, \u201cDirectionally very bad. Sam this is very bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman asked to join the meeting and Murati said the board didn\u2019t want him to. Altman then texted, \u201cwhat do you want to make it better? i\u2019m still willing to just walk away if that helps. if they are ramped up for crazy lawsuits against me then i\u2019m not sure what.\u201d<\/p>\n Murati said the board was convinced of their decision for Altman to leave the company, adding, \u201cThey\u2019ve walked me through all the reasons and the issues with you and why you can\u2019t be ceo.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman asked why the board, then, had been \u201csaying all weekend they wanted me back.\u201d<\/p>\n Murati responded, \u201cThey want to have a new ceo in place tonight (not me.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman asked who, and Murati responded, \u201cNew guy is rando twitch guy,\u201d referencing Shear.<\/p>\n Murati told Altman she was \u201choping Satya can help undo this.\u201d<\/p>\n Between November 17th and 20th, Murati and Nadella, who was squarely on Altman\u2019s side during the conflict and had offered to hire every OpenAI employee over to Microsoft to work under Altman, also exchanged a number of text messages<\/a> (largely one-sided, with Murati reaching out to Nadella). In one, Murati mentions that she\u2019s \u201cnot putting [her] name on this,\u201d seeming to reference a statement<\/a> by the board issued that Sunday that \u201cthe board firmly stands by its decision as the only path to advance and defend the mission of OpenAI,\u201d and that \u201cput simply, Sam\u2019s behavior and lack of transparency in his interactions with the board undermined the board\u2019s ability to effectively supervise the company in the manner it was mandated to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Within days, more than 750 OpenAI employees signed a letter<\/a> to OpenAI\u2019s board, threatening to quit and join the new Microsoft subsidiary that would be led by Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman.<\/p>\n They wrote that \u201cthe process through which you terminated Sam Altman and removed Greg Brockman from the board has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company.\u201d<\/p>\n The very first signatory on that letter? Murati herself.<\/p>\n One of the most interesting parts of the letter is near the end, when the signatories specifically note to the board that \u201cwithin two days of your initial decision, you again replaced interim CEO Mira Murati against the best interests of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n But remember: Murati, apparently, had told the board that she didn\u2019t want to serve as interim CEO unless the board was able to \u201clegitimize\u201d the decision, according to Toner\u2019s testimony. Toner said Murati \u201cdid not seem to understand, either willfully or not, that she had a pivotal role to play in legitimizing this decision herself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was waiting to see which way the wind would blow, and she didn\u2019t realize that she was the wind,\u201d Toner said.<\/p>\n Toner also said that Murati had been \u201cstrikingly unsupportive\u201d and \u201cremarkably passive\u201d after Altman\u2019s removal, adding, \u201cShe seemed totally uninterested in telling her team that her conversations with us had been a significant factor in our decision to fire Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n During the 78 text messages between Murati and Altman, Altman asked if it was time to send the board the letter from the employees; Murati told him it \u201cwouldn\u2019t matter\u201d and that the board members \u201cdon\u2019t care if everyone quits,\u201d just that they didn\u2019t want Altman\u2019s \u201chand on agi.\u201d Altman asked if D\u2019Angelo knew that Murati had rehired Altman, and she said yes.<\/p>\n Early on the morning of Monday, November 20th, Murati texted<\/a> Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott that they were \u201cclose to having the board resign.\u201d Scott responded, \u201cFor real this time?\u201d Murati said, \u201cIt seems so. Ilya [Sutskever] signed our petition.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that morning, Murati asked Nadella to \u201cplease make a public statement soon that shows support for the joint [OpenAI] team, basically bringing the team together? It\u2019s very important that we don\u2019t lose researchers to Demis [Hassabis] or Elon [Musk].\u201d<\/p>\n A little over a year before, in a document<\/a> dated September 30th, 2022, Murati had written a list of complaints about Altman and his management style that was apparently shared directly with him. She wrote that \u201cconstant panic around our projects, people, goals, etc generates chaos and churn,\u201d and that \u201cwe talk about focus but in practice our approach is do-everything and do it fast because we constantly get pressure to change priorities and shuffle around people and projects.\u201d She also wrote about Altman and the executive team\u2019s misalignment about the importance of the applied AI team, and requested that Altman talk about his concerns with her directly: \u201cI don\u2019t want to find out from others \u2026 It\u2019s a missed opportunity for us to resolve important issues for the company and it undermines the leadership of the company when you do this.\u201d<\/p>\n Murati also mentioned, in that 2022 document, the idea that \u201cdoing what the users want is not in the DNA of OpenAI\u201d \u2014 that the company\u2019s top-cited goal was to generate $100 million in revenue, and that Altman\u2019s position was that \u201cit didn\u2019t matter how we got to this number, we needed to get there.\u201d Murati also said that one of the top proposed solutions for Altman to remedy these issues would be to \u201cget informed\u201d and use official channels to bring up proposed changes.<\/p>\n \u201cOften I hear from you two things simultaneously, that to me seem in conflict: (1) We\u2019re not moving fast enough or a particular area or person is failing & (2) You don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, so you might be wrong,\u201d she wrote in the 2022 document. \u201cWhen unsure of how things are going or if there\u2019s a feeling that things are not going well, go directly to Mira to get information and set up in-depth reviews until you are satisfied that you understand the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of Murati\u2019s deposition played at the trial<\/a> in Musk v. Altman this week, she said she stood by her criticisms of Altman and that her concerns were \u201ccompletely management related \u2026 I had an incredibly hard job to do in an organization that was very complex. I was asking Sam to lead, and lead with clarity, and not undermine my ability to do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n Murati may not have been present in the courtroom, but her testimony \u2014 and what was revealed in documentation \u2014 was among the most memorable.<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Hayden FieldClose Hayden Field<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Hayden Field<\/a><\/p>\n AIClose<\/p>\n AI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All AI<\/a><\/p>\n AnalysisClose<\/p>\n Analysis<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Analysis<\/a><\/p>\n Elon MuskClose<\/p>\n Elon Musk<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Elon Musk<\/a><\/p>\n LawClose<\/p>\n Law<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Law<\/a><\/p>\n OpenAIClose<\/p>\n OpenAI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All OpenAI<\/a><\/p>\n PolicyClose<\/p>\n Policy<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Policy<\/a><\/p>\n ReportClose<\/p>\n Report<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778241677_411_HAYDEN_BLURPLE.jpg\"\/)
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