• OpenAI's top technical leaders, including CTO Mira Murati, have announced their departure amidst a $6.5 billion funding round.
• The exits could potentially impact the ongoing fundraising due to a "material adverse change" clause in some documents.
• OpenAI is also undergoing a significant corporate restructuring, transitioning to a for-profit benefit corporation.
• The company is navigating through a period of significant change and uncertainty, with the impact on its future trajectory yet to be seen.

In a significant development, OpenAI, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup, witnessed the departure of three of its top technical leaders. The trio, including Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP Research Barret Zoph, and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, announced their exits on Wednesday afternoon. This news comes amidst a period of transition for the company, which is currently in the process of negotiating a new $6.5 billion financing round that could potentially value the company at a staggering $150 billion.

The departure of these executives could potentially impact the ongoing fundraising round. Some fundraising documents contain a material adverse change clause, which allows investors to withdraw from a deal if the company encounters anything that could have a significant negative impact. It remains unclear whether the departure of these executives would trigger such a clause.

OpenAI is not just dealing with the departure of its top executives but is also in the midst of a significant corporate restructuring. The company plans to transition from its current structure, where a non-profit board controls the for-profit entity, to a for-profit benefit corporation.

Restructuring and Departures: A Period of Transition

This restructuring is aimed at addressing the unusual structure of the company and is also intended to give CEO Sam Altman an equity stake. This restructuring comes after a tumultuous period for the company. In November 2023, Altman was ousted by members of the non-profit board due to a breakdown in communication and loss of trust. However, he was reinstated after five days. The funding round has not closed yet, and the company is in the process of finalizing it.

Mira Murati, one of the departing executives, is still working at OpenAI while she negotiates her exit from the company. Murati has been part of OpenAI for 6-1/2 years and briefly served as CEO in November when the board temporarily ousted Altman. Prior to joining OpenAI, she worked at virtual and augmented reality startup Leap Motion and at Tesla.

As CTO, Murati frequently appeared alongside Altman as the public face of OpenAI. When OpenAI launched its GPT-4o model in May, capable of having realistic voice conversation, Murati led the presentation. In a post on X, Murati explained her decision to leave, stating, I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration.

A String of Departures and Promotions

Murati, Zoph, and McGrew are not the first executives to depart from OpenAI. In August, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman announced that he had joined rival AI company Anthropic. Another co-founder, Greg Brockman, also announced that he was taking a sabbatical through the end of the year. A third co-founder, chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, left OpenAI in May.

In a post on X, Altman revealed that Murati did not inform him in advance of her departure. She explained to him that she wanted to do it when the company was in an upswing and that there is never a good time. In the same post, Altman also announced a slew of internal promotions: Matt Knight to chief information security officer, Josh Achiam to head of mission alignment, and Mark Chen to senior vice president of Research.

This situation is reminiscent of similar events in the tech industry where top executives have left companies during crucial periods. For instance, in 2018, Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich resigned amidst a significant restructuring of the company. Similarly, in 2020, several top executives left Uber during a period of corporate restructuring and financial uncertainty.