More OpenAI executives depart amid reports of for-profit restructuring

Two more OpenAI executives announced their departure from the artificial intelligence (AI) company Wednesday amid reports that the ChatGPT maker is considering restructuring into a for-profit business. 

OpenAI’s chief research officer, Bob McGrew, and a vice president of research, Barret Zoph, both announced they would be leaving the company, just hours after Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati shared that she was departing. 

McGrew, who is leaving OpenAI after eight years, said in a statement posted Wednesday night to the social platform X that it was “time for me to take a break.” 

“The last eight years of OpenAI has been a humbling and awe-inspiring journey,” he said. “The small non-profit I joined in January 2017 has become the most important research and deployment company in the world.” 

Zoph also explained his “difficult decision” to leave the AI company in a post on X, describing the current moment as “a natural point for me to explore new opportunities outside of OpenAI.”

“This is a personal decision based on how I want to evolve the next phase of my career,” he wrote. “OpenAI is doing and will continue to do incredible work and I am very optimistic about the future trajectory of the company and will be rooting everybody on.” 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post of his own Wednesday night that the three company leaders had made their decisions to leave “independently of each other and amicably.” 

“[T]he timing of Mira’s decision was such that it made sense to now do this all at once, so that we can work together for a smooth handover to the next generation of leadership,” he said. “I am extremely grateful to all of them for their contributions.” 

The latest departures follow a string of resignations from OpenAI earlier this year. Co-founder Ilya Sutskever and machine learning researcher Jan Leike both left the company in May, while co-founder John Schulman resigned last month. 

The turnover at the top of the company also comes as OpenAI is reportedly considering restructuring to become a for-profit business. 

As part of the restructuring, the company would become a public benefit corporation, a for-profit entity aimed at bettering society, and would no longer be controlled by its nonprofit board, Reuters first reported Wednesday. 

Altman could also potentially receive a 7 percent equity stake in the company, according to Bloomberg.  

In response to a request for comment, OpenAI pointed The Hill to a statement from Bret Taylor, chairman of the OpenAI board, provided to Bloomberg.

“The board has had discussions about whether it would be beneficial to the company and our mission to have Sam be compensated with equity, but no specific figures have been discussed nor have any decisions been made,” Taylor said.

— Updated at 4:35 p.m.