Mira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ouster

Mira Murati's deposition in the Musk v. Altman trial has shed light on her central role in the dramatic ouster and eventual reinstatement of Sam Altman as OpenAI CEO. Initially, Murati was involved in raising concerns about Altman's communication and management style with co-founder Ilya Sutskever, which escalated to the board. She was briefly interim CEO after Altman's termination but quickly shifted her support to his return. Text messages revealed Murati's direct communication with Altman during the crisis, where she conveyed the board's firm decision for him to leave and expressed pessimism about his reinstatement. Despite her initial involvement in his removal, Murati also signed an employee letter threatening mass resignations if Altman wasn't reinstated and later communicated with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to help reunite the OpenAI team. Her deposition testimony confirmed her prior criticisms of Altman's management, emphasizing her need for clarity and support in her role as CTO.

(Source：The Verge)