Mira Murati, who recently stepped down as OpenAI’s CTO, is already back in the game—this time, fundraising for her own AI startup. According to Reuters, Murati is aiming to raise over $100 million to develop AI products built on proprietary models.
Murati left OpenAI last month, saying she wanted “time and space” to explore new projects.
When she left, Murati wrote on X that OpenAI had “fundamentally changed how AI systems learn and reason through complex problems” in its recent releases. She said, “I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration,” but didn’t offer details about her plans.
A Quick Recap on Mira Murati
Before joining OpenAI as VP of applied AI in 2018, she had stints at Tesla and Leap Motion. She was promoted to CTO in 2022 and even served as interim CEO during Sam Altman’s short ouster.
Murati’s exit is part of a larger wave of leadership changes at OpenAI. Just hours after she left, the company’s chief research officer and research VP also announced their departures. Meanwhile, OpenAI isn’t slowing down—it raised a record $6.6 billion in VC funding shortly after her exit.
The AI space is about to get even more interesting!
Murati joins a growing list of former OpenAI execs launching AI startups, including Anthropic, founded by ex-VP Dario Amodei, which focuses on safe and ethical AI development. Another player is Safe Superintelligence, led by Jack Clark, OpenAI’s former policy director, with a focus on responsibly managed AI systems.
