Mira Murati's Deposition: The Truth Behind Altman's Ouster

The former OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati, possessed evidence that, paradoxically, tends to complicate her own narrative surrounding a pivotal period for the company.

The week before Thanksgiving in 2023 unfolded as the artificial intelligence industry's most significant drama. Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, was abruptly removed from his position. The stated reason was that Altman had "not consistently candid in his communications with the board." Now, new details from witness testimony and trial exhibits in the *Musk v. Altman* lawsuit are providing the public with an unprecedented look behind the scenes of that tumultuous weekend, with much of the focus landing on Murati.

This power struggle was unique in its public unfolding, with developments seemingly shifting by the hour. The board's notably vague blog post announcing Altman's ouster, published on OpenAI’s website, immediately ignited a flurry of conspiracy theories across X (formerly Twitter). It later emerged that the catalyst had allegedly been a pattern of misrepresentation or omission by Altman, concerning issues such as OpenAI’s safety protocols, his ownership stake in OpenAI’s startup fund, or the rollout of specific tools and features like ChatGPT. In response, other OpenAI executives and AI industry figures publicly voiced their support for Altman. An online campaign saw hundreds of OpenAI employees signaling support for Altman’s reinstatement by posting a heart emoji, with many also sharing the sentiment, “OpenAI is nothing without its people.” Rumors proliferated as countless observers eagerly awaited any new fragments of information.

Throughout this period, Mira Murati, OpenAI's CTO, appeared to be a central, albeit initially understated, figure. She was first appointed interim CEO, only to quickly relinquish the role to an external candidate, Emmett Shear. Within days, Altman was reinstated as the company’s leader, and the board that had orchestrated his removal was largely disbanded.

Murati had publicly advocated for Altman's return, posting online in his favor. However, subsequent reports indicated her significant involvement in his initial ouster. By some accounts, she initiated internal discussions regarding concerns about Altman and supplied a considerable amount of information—including screenshots, documented text messages, and allegations of mismanagement during Altman’s tenure at Y Combinator—to cofounder Ilya Sutskever. Sutskever then presented these concerns to the OpenAI board in a 52-page memo. In recent testimony, former board member Helen Toner affirmed that Murati and Sutskever’s concerns had substantially influenced the board’s own, which centered on a pattern of deception, Altman’s "resistance" to board oversight, and his "manipulation" of board processes and management issues.

On November 16, 2023, four members of OpenAI’s board of directors—Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D’Angelo, and Tasha McCauley—unanimously signed a document terminating Altman’s employment and appointing Murati as the new interim CEO.

Despite her integral role in the events leading up to Altman’s removal, Murati almost immediately appeared to shift her allegiance to him.

In a series of 78 text messages exchanged over a 14-hour period, from Sunday evening to Monday morning, Murati and Altman engaged in extensive discussions about the possibility of his reinstatement and the next steps. Altman noted that D’Angelo, a board member, was "trying to get the board to agree to a configuration," but Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had conveyed to D’Angelo that such a plan "doesn’t work and that [they] need to start preparing for plan b."

Around 2:30 AM on Monday morning, Altman inquired, “can you indicate directionally good or bad? satya and others anxious.” Murati’s immediate response was definitive: “Directionally very bad. Sam this is very bad.”

Altman requested to join the meeting, but Murati informed him the board did not wish for his presence. Altman then texted, “what do you want to make it better? i’m still willing to just walk away if that helps. if they are ramped up for crazy lawsuits against me then i’m not sure what.” Murati conveyed that the board was resolute in its decision for Altman to depart the company, adding, “They’ve walked me through all the reasons and the issues with you and why you can’t be ceo.”

Altman questioned why the board had been “saying all weekend they wanted me back.” Murati clarified, “They want to have a new ceo in place tonight (not me.” When Altman asked who, Murati replied, “New guy is rando twitch guy,” referring to Emmett Shear.

Murati communicated to Altman her hope that “Satya can help undo this.”

Between November 17 and 20, Murati also exchanged several text messages with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who staunchly supported Altman during the conflict and had offered to hire every OpenAI employee to work under Altman at Microsoft. These exchanges were largely initiated by Murati. In one message, Murati stated that she was “not putting [her] name on this,” seemingly referencing a board statement issued that Sunday. That statement affirmed that “the board firmly stands by its decision as the only path to advance and defend the mission of OpenAI,” and that “put simply, Sam’s behavior and lack of transparency in his interactions with the board undermined the board’s ability to effectively supervise the company in the manner it was mandated to do.”

Within days, more than 750 OpenAI employees signed a letter to the company’s board, threatening to resign and join a new Microsoft subsidiary to be led by Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman.

The letter asserted that “the process through which you terminated Sam Altman and removed Greg Brockman from the board has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company.”

The very first signatory on that impactful letter was Murati herself.

A particularly intriguing section of the letter appears near its conclusion, where the signatories specifically noted to the board that “within two days of your initial decision, you again replaced interim CEO Mira Murati against the best interests of the company.”

However, according to Toner’s testimony, Murati had reportedly informed the board that she would not serve as interim CEO unless the board could "legitimize" the decision. Toner stated that Murati “did not seem to understand, either willfully or not, that she had a pivotal role to play in legitimizing this decision herself.”

“She was waiting to see which way the wind would blow, and she didn’t realize that she was the wind,” Toner remarked.

Toner further described Murati as “strikingly unsupportive” and “remarkably passive” following Altman’s removal. She added, “She seemed totally uninterested in telling her team that her conversations with us had been a significant factor in our decision to fire Sam.”

During the 78 text messages exchanged between Murati and Altman, Altman inquired if it was time to send the employee letter to the board. Murati dismissed its potential impact, stating it “wouldn’t matter” and that board members “don’t care if everyone quits,” only that they did not want Altman’s “hand on AGI.” Altman then asked if D’Angelo was aware that Murati had rehired him, to which she confirmed yes.

Early on the morning of Monday, November 20, Murati texted Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott that they were “close to having the board resign.” Scott responded with skepticism, “For real this time?” Murati confirmed, “It seems so. Ilya [Sutskever] signed our petition.”

Later that morning, Murati urged Nadella to “please make a public statement soon that shows support for the joint [OpenAI] team, basically bringing the team together? It’s very important that we don’t lose researchers to Demis or Elon.”

A little over a year prior, in a document dated September 30, 2022, Murati had compiled a list of grievances regarding Altman and his management approach, which was reportedly shared directly with him. She articulated that “constant panic around our projects, people, goals, etc generates chaos and churn,” and that “we talk about focus but in practice our approach is do-everything and do it fast because we constantly get pressure to change priorities and shuffle around people and projects.” She also highlighted a misalignment between Altman and the executive team concerning the importance of the applied AI team and requested that Altman address his concerns directly with her: “I don’t want to find out from others …It’s a missed opportunity for us to resolve important issues for the company and it undermines the leadership of the company when you do this.”

In that 2022 document, Murati also raised the point that “doing what the users want is not in the DNA of OpenAI”—noting that the company’s primary stated objective was to generate $100 million in revenue, and that Altman’s stance was that “it didn’t matter how we got to this number, we needed to get there.” Murati further suggested that a key solution for Altman to rectify these issues would be to “get informed” and utilize official channels for proposing changes.

“Often I hear from you two things simultaneously, that to me seem in conflict: (1) We’re not moving fast enough or a particular area or person is failing & (2) You don’t know what’s going on, so you might be wrong,” she wrote in the 2022 document. “When unsure of how things are going or if there’s a feeling that things are not going well, go directly to Mira to get information and set up in-depth reviews until you are satisfied that you understand the situation.”

During Murati’s deposition, which was played at the *Musk v. Altman* trial this week, she affirmed her criticisms of Altman, stating that her concerns were “completely management related … I had an incredibly hard job to do in an organization that was very complex. I was asking Sam to lead, and lead with clarity, and not undermine my ability to do my job.”

While Murati was not physically present in the courtroom, her testimony—and the accompanying documentation—emerged as some of the most compelling and memorable evidence presented.