A senior executive at OpenAI, who briefly held the position of interim CEO during a challenging period last year, has announced her departure from the organization.

Mira Murati, the chief technology officer of OpenAI, stated in a written message on Wednesday that she has come to the "difficult decision to leave OpenAI" after considerable contemplation.

“I’m stepping away to create the time and space for my own exploration,” she explained.

Additionally, CEO Sam Altman revealed later on Wednesday that two other senior executives are also departing. He noted that the decisions made by Murati, along with Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and research leader Barret Zoph, were made “independently of each other and amicably,” as stated in a message to employees shared on social media.

These departures mark the latest in a series of high-profile exits from OpenAI, which began as a nonprofit research organization and is renowned for developing ChatGPT. In August, the company’s president and co-founder, Greg Brockman, announced he would be “taking a sabbatical” until the end of the year. Another co-founder, John Schulman, left in August to join rival company Anthropic, which was established in 2021 by former OpenAI leaders.

Co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who led efforts in AI safety, departed in May to start his own AI venture. Shortly after his exit, Jan Leike, co-leader of the safety team, also resigned, criticizing OpenAI for prioritizing product development over safety concerns.

In her farewell message to colleagues shared on social media, Murati expressed her admiration for the company and Altman, calling it “at the pinnacle of AI innovation” and acknowledging the difficulty of leaving a place she holds dear.

Altman conveyed his appreciation for Murati’s contributions and remarked that leadership transitions are a natural part of a rapidly growing organization.

“I won’t pretend that it’s typical for this to happen so suddenly, but we are not a conventional company,” Altman stated in a post on X, which also mentioned that six other individuals are assuming new roles.

Murati was unexpectedly elevated to the position of interim CEO of the company late last year following the board of directors' decision to dismiss Altman, which caused significant disruption in the AI sector. Subsequently, the company appointed another interim CEO before reinstating Altman to his former leadership position and replacing the majority of the board members responsible for his removal.