Mira Murati

From Albania to the Tesla Model X

Murati was born in Albania in 1988. She studied at Colby College and then at Dartmouth, where she earned a bachelor of engineering. Dartmouth lists her as Thayer '12.127

At Tesla she worked on the Model X and early Autopilot systems. She later led product and engineering at Leap Motion, which built interfaces for virtual and augmented reality.1

Five years on OpenAI's leadership team

By November 2023 she had been on OpenAI's leadership team for five years. In May 2022 the company had made her chief technology officer, after she brought research, product and partnerships together for the release of DALL-E. Dartmouth's profile says she oversaw research, product and safety there.145

The same profile says she led the development and release of ChatGPT, GPT-4, DALL-E, Codex, Sora and the o-series reasoning models, and that ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months. Murati was also listed as a coauthor of the GPT-4 Technical Report.112

She was open about the limits. In a February 2023 TIME interview she said of ChatGPT, "It has immense potential to help us with personalized education." In the same interview she said, "This is a unique moment in time where we do have agency in how it shapes society."11

The board's choice in November 2023

OpenAI announced on its blog that Altman's departure followed a review in which the board concluded he was not consistently candid in his communications with it. Murati, then chief technology officer, became interim CEO. The board said her long tenure and her experience in AI governance and policy made her uniquely qualified for the role.5

She left OpenAI in September 2024. The Associated Press reported that she had made the difficult decision to go, alongside chief research officer Bob McGrew and research leader Barret Zoph. Altman said the three decisions were made independently of each other and amicably.6

Thinking Machines Lab and a gigawatt of NVIDIA systems

Murati founded Thinking Machines Lab in December 2024. The lab says today's AI systems remain hard for people to customise to their needs and values, and that the best safety measures combine proactive research with careful real-world testing.114

The lab has announced a multi-year partnership to deploy at least one gigawatt of NVIDIA Vera Rubin systems. NVIDIA has also made a significant investment in it.13

Dartmouth gave her an honorary doctorate in 2024. At its AI Everywhere event she said smarter AI would be more helpful and safer. She has also served on the United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.17

Backlash, a co-founder's exit and a subpoena

Fortune reported that remarks Murati made at Dartmouth about AI and creative jobs drew backlash. Critics, including Dartmouth students, accused her of being tone-deaf to the concerns of artists and writers.2

In January 2026 Murati announced that Thinking Machines Lab had parted ways with co-founder and CTO Barret Zoph. OpenAI said within an hour that Zoph, Luke Metz and Sam Schoenholz were returning to it. TechCrunch, citing Wired, reported that the split was not amicable. Murati's public messaging gave no more detail, and no lawsuit or regulatory action was reported.10

Murati is also a non-party in Musk v. Altman, a lawsuit by Elon Musk and X.AI against Altman, Greg Brockman and OpenAI. On 9 October 2025 a magistrate judge granted Musk's motion to serve a deposition subpoena on her by alternative means. The order makes no allegation of wrongdoing against her. Musk's lawyers later said her deposition was set for 2 November 2025 and that they meant to question her on the Brockman Memo; the docket does not record whether it happened.8915

After a jury trial in April and May 2026, the court's 20 May 2026 order said an advisory jury found Musk's trial claims barred by the statute of limitations. An archived docket shows the case still open on 29 September 2026. It does not name Murati.16

Murati, year by year

1. 1988

   Born in Albania12

2. 2012

   Graduates from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering with a bachelor of engineering17

3. 2018

   Joins OpenAI's leadership team, five years before the November 2023 leadership announcement5

4. May 2022

   OpenAI appoints her chief technology officer4

5. Nov 2023

   Becomes interim CEO of OpenAI after the board removes Sam Altman5

6. 2024

   Receives an honorary doctorate from Dartmouth1

7. Sep 2024

   Leaves OpenAI6

8. Dec 2024

   Founds Thinking Machines Lab1

9. Oct 2025

   A federal magistrate judge authorises alternative service of Elon Musk's deposition subpoena on her in Musk v. Altman, in which she is a non-party89

10. Jan 2026

    Announces that Thinking Machines Lab has parted ways with co-founder and CTO Barret Zoph10

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