Major shake-up at OpenAI as Chief Technology Officer resigns

SAN JOSE: Artificial Intelligence startup OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati on Wednesday announced her resignation from the company, signalling a significant leadership shift for the company, which is renowned for its development of the generative chatbot ChatGPT.

OpenAI on Wednesday also announced the the departures of research chief Bob McGrew and research vice president Barret Zoph, reported German news agency dpa.

Also on Wednesday, US media including Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was planning on giving up its non-profit status. As part of the restructuring, company chief executive officer Sam Altman could receive a 7 per cent stake in the AI company, Bloomberg reported, citing informed individuals. Altman currently has no stake in OpenAI.

No connection was initially made between the reorganisation and the departures of the three managers.

Murati wrote on social media platform X that she wanted to create time and space for her research. She thanked Altman and gave no impression of a dispute. McGrew's departure was announced by Altman.

The transition into a company that is geared towards both public good and profit could make OpenAI more attractive to investors. The new structure would no longer limit how much backers can make from their investment, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

OpenAI is currently pursuing funding up to US$6.5 billion, according to media reports.

Murati was briefly appointed CEO of OpenAI last November after the board of directors of the AI developer unexpectedly pushed Altman out. However, a few days later, the co-founder returned to the CEO position after pressure from employees and major investor Microsoft. Murati backed him.

ChatGPT triggered unprecedented hype around AI - with expectations ranging from almost unlimited possibilities in the digital world to fears of the extinction of humanity.

Large language models such as ChatGPT are trained with huge amounts of information and can formulate texts at, or beyond, human levels.

--BERNAMA-dpa

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