Mira Murati's deposition reveals her pivotal role in Sam Altman's November 2023 ouster and subsequent reinstatement at OpenAI

On November 16, 2023, four OpenAI board members—Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, and Tasha McCauley—unanimously terminated Sam Altman's employment and named Mira Murati interim CEO. Murati had funneled information including screenshots, documentation of text messages, and allegations of mismanagement to Sutskever, who presented a 52-page memo to the board about concerns relating to Altman's pattern of deceit and resistance to board oversight.

In 78 text messages exchanged between Murati and Altman over a 14-hour period starting Sunday evening, Murati told Altman the board was "convinced of their decision for [him] to leave the company" and that a new CEO (Emmett Shear) was being installed that night. Within days, Murati herself became the first signatory on a letter from more than 750 OpenAI employees threatening to quit and join a Microsoft subsidiary led by Altman.

Board member Helen Toner testified that Murati was "strikingly unsupportive" and "remarkably passive" after Altman's removal, and appeared to be "waiting to see which way the wind would blow." Toner stated that Murati had told the board she would not serve as interim CEO unless they could "legitimize" the decision, seemingly unaware she herself was essential to that legitimization.