OpenAI CTO离职引发关注：CEO奥特曼面临新挑战与公司股权变动

雷递网 雷建平 9月26日

ChatGPT运营公司OpenAI创始人、CEO萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）活成了孤家寡人。

今日，OpenAI CTO米拉·穆拉蒂（Mira Murati）宣布离职，这是继OpenAI联合创始人兼总裁Greg Brockman休假，OpenAI首席科学家Ilya Sutskever离职之后，OpenAI离职的又一核心高管。

OpenAI之前轰轰烈烈的内斗过去还不到1年时间，当初的公司四巨头只剩下了Sam Altman。

当前，OpenAI正在脱离其长期的非营利结构，Sam Altman准备首次获得公司股权。有消息称，OpenAI计划重组为一家营利性福利公司——类似于Anthropic和Elon Musk的 xAI等竞争对手。

目前负责监督 OpenAI 营利性运营的非营利性OpenAI董事会将放弃控制权，但保留新营利性OpenAI实体的少数股权。

尽其所能确保平稳过渡

Mira Murati今日说，经过深思熟虑，做出离开OpenAl的艰难决定。（After much reflection, I have made the diffcult decision to leave OpenAl.）

Mira Murati在OpenAI团队工作了6年半时间，称这是一份非凡的荣幸。“虽然我会在接下来的日子里向许多人表示感谢，但首先我想感谢 Sam 和 Greg 对我领导技术组织的信任以及他们多年来的支持。”

“离开自己珍爱的地方永远没有理想的时机，但此刻感觉很合适。我们最近发布的语音转语音和OpenAl o1标志着互动和智能新时代的开始 - 这些成就是由您的聪明才智和工艺实现的。我们不仅构建了更智能的模型，还从根本上改变了人工智能系统学习和推理复杂问题的方式。我们将安全研究从理论领域带入实际应用，创建了比以往任何时候都更强大、更一致、更可控的模型。”

“我们的工作使尖端的人工智能研究变得直观和易于理解，开发出能够根据每个人的意见进行调整和发展的技术。这一成功证明了我们出色的团队合作，正是由于你们的才华、奉献和承诺，OpenAl 才站在了人工智能创新的顶峰。”

Mira Murati说，其离开是因为我想创造时间和空间来进行自己的探索。目前，其主要重点是尽其所能确保平稳过渡，保持OpenAI已经建立的势头。

“我将永远感激有机会与这个非凡的团队一起建立和工作。我们共同突破了科学理解的界限，以改善人类福祉。虽然我可能不再与你们并肩作战，但我仍然会支持你们所有人。”

OpenAI任命多位高管

Sam Altman今日也回应了Mira Murati的离开，称过去6年半的时间里，Mira对 OpenAI的进步和成长起到了重要作用；她对我们从一个不知名的研究实验室发展成一家重要公司起到了至关重要的作用。

“今天早上，当Mira告诉我她要离开时，我很难过，但当然支持她的决定。过去一年里，她一直在打造一支强大的领导团队，继续推动我们的进步。”

“我还想告诉大家，Bob和Barret已经决定离开OpenAI。Mira、Bob和Barret 各自友好地做出了这些决定，但 Mira 做出决定的时机恰到好处，现在同时做出这些决定是合理的，这样我们就可以共同努力，顺利交接给下一代领导层。”

Sam Altman同时宣布了公司任命，任命马克（Mark）为OpenAI新的研发高级副总裁，与雅库布合作担任首席科学家，领导研究机构。“这是我们未来对Bob的长期继任计划；虽然这比我们想象的要早，但我对马克将担任这一职务感到非常兴奋。马克显然拥有深厚的技术专业知识，但在过去几年中，他也以非常令人印象深刻的方式学会了如何成为一名领导者和管理者。”

“乔希·阿奇亚姆（Josh Achiam）将担任任务协调主管的新职务，负责整个公司的工作，以确保我们把所有部分（和文化）都做好，以便在任务中取得成功。凯文和斯里尼瓦斯将继续领导应用团队。”

“Matt Knight 将担任我们的首席信息安全官，他已经担任这一职务很长时间了。这是我们长期以来的计划。”

Sam Altman说，Mark、Jakub、Kevin、Srinivas、Matt 和 Josh将向其汇报。“在过去一年左右的时间里，我大部分时间都花在了我们组织的非技术部分；现在，我期待着将大部分时间花在公司的技术和产品部分。”

“领导层变动是公司的自然组成部分，尤其是那些发展如此迅速、要求如此高的公司。我当然不会假装这次变动如此突然是自然而然的，但我们不是一家普通公司，我认为 Mira 向我解释的原因是有道理的。我们明天可以在全体会议上进一步讨论这个问题。”

2023年11月，OpenAI发生了一场宫斗，最初OpenAI董事会宣布，萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）辞去CEO，并离开公司，首席技术官米拉·穆拉蒂（Mira Murati）担任临时首席执行官。Greg Brockman也将辞去董事会主席职务。

当时一封举报材料中，OpenAl前员工称，对OpenAl发生的事件深切关注。举报材料称，“在OpenAl的整个过程中，我们目睹了Sam Altman和Greg Brockman 令人不安的欺骗和操纵模式，他们对实现通用人工智能的追求永无止境。然而，他们的方法让人严重怀疑他们的真实意图以及他们真正优先考虑全人类利益的程度。”

“我们中的许多人最初对 OpenAl 的使命充满希望，但选择相信Sam 和 Greg。然而，随着他们的行为越来越令人担忧，那些敢于表达担忧的人被噤声或被赶了出去。这种对异议的系统性压制创造了一种恐惧和恐吓的环境，有效地扼杀了任何关于OpenAl工作的道德影响的有意义的讨论。”

不过，短短几天时间，Sam Altman就王者归来，重返OpenAI担任首席执行官，并组建由Bret Taylor（主席）、Larry Summers 和Adam D‘Angelo领导的新董事会。

不过，2024年以来，OpenAI内部动荡不堪。2024年5月，超级对齐团队的领导人Jan Leike和公司联合创始人、首席科学家Ilya Sutskever离开了OpenAI。Leike 加入了 Anthropic，Sutskever创办新公司Safe Superintelligence，还募资10亿美元，投资方包括NFDG、a16z、Sequoia、DST Global和SV Angel。

2024年8月，OpenAI联合创始人兼总裁Greg Brockman宣布，在今年余下时间休假。“我将休假到年底。这是自9年前共同创办 OpenAI 以来第一次放松。任务远未完成；我们仍然需要构建安全的 AGI。”（I’m taking a sabbatical through end of year. First time to relax since co-founding OpenAI 9 years ago. The mission is far from complete; we still have a safe AGI to build.）

同一时间，OpenAI联合创始人约翰·舒尔曼 (John Schulman)宣布离开公司，加入由亚马逊资助的人工智能初创公司 Anthropic。

Anthropic被视为OpenAI的重要对手，Anthropic由前OpenAI员工创办，2023年初，谷歌向Anthropic投资3亿美元，被视为是OpenAI开发的机器人应用ChatGPT的竞争对手。

2023年5月，Anthropic完成C系列轮4.5亿美元融资，由Spark Capital领投，估值可能超过41亿美元。Anthropic其他投资方包括谷歌、Salesforce、Zoom、Sound Ventures、Menlo Ventures。

2023年9月，Anthropic宣布，亚马逊将向公司投资40亿美元，Anthropic的前沿安全研究和产品，再加上Amazon Web Services (AWS) 在运行安全、可靠基础设施方面的专业知识，使AWS客户能广泛使用Anthropic 安全且可操控的AI。

从Sam Altman回归这一年公司的运作来看，OpenAI的运作越来越商业化，内部存在巨大分歧。

以下是Mira Murati离职内部信：

Hi all,

I have something to share with you. After much reflection, I have made the diffcult decision to leave OpenAl.

My six-and-a-half years with the OpenAl team have been an extraordinary privilege. While I'll express my gratitude to many individuals in the coming days, I want to start by thanking Sam and Greg for their trust in me to lead the technical organization and for their support throughout the years.

There's never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right. Our recent releases of speech-to-speech and OpenAl o1 mark the beginning of a new era in interaction and intelligence - achievements made possible by your ingenuity and craftsmanship.

We didn't merely build smarter models, we fundamentally changed how Al systems learn and reason through complex problems. We brought safety research from the theoretical realm into practical applications, creating models that are more robust, aligned, and steerable than ever before. Our work has made cutting-edge Al research intuitive and accessible, developing technology that adapts and evolves based on everyone's input. This success is a testament to our outstanding teamwork, and it is because of your brilliance, your dedication, and your commitment that OpenAl stands at the pinnacle of Al innovation.

I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration. For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we've built.

I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to build and work alongside this remarkable team. Together, we've pushed the boundaries of scientifc understanding in our quest to improve human well-being. While I may no longer be in the trenches with you, I will still be rooting for you all.

With deep gratitude for the friendships forged, the triumphs achieved, and most importantly, the challenges overcome together.

Mira

以下是Sam Altman的回应：

i just posted this note to openai:

Hi All–

Mira has been instrumental to OpenAI’s progress and growth the last 6.5 years; she has been a hugely significant factor in our development from an unknown research lab to an important company.

When Mira informed me this morning that she was leaving, I was saddened but of course support her decision. For the past year, she has been building out a strong bench of leaders that will continue our progress.

I also want to share that Bob and Barret have decided to depart OpenAI. Mira, Bob, and Barret made these decisions independently of each other and amicably, but the timing of Mira’s decision was such that it made sense to now do this all at once, so that we can work together for a smooth handover to the next generation of leadership.

I am extremely grateful to all of them for their contributions.

Being a leader at OpenAI is all-consuming. On one hand it’s a privilege to build AGI and be the fastest-growing company that gets to put our advanced research in the hands of hundreds of millions of people. On the other hand it’s relentless to lead a team through it—and they have gone above and beyond the call of duty for the company.

Mark is going to be our new SVP of Research and will now lead the research org in partnership with Jakub as Chief Scientist. This has been our long-term succession plan for Bob someday; although it’s happening sooner than we thought, I couldn’t be more excited that Mark is stepping into the role. Mark obviously has deep technical expertise, but he has also learned how to be a leader and manager in a very impressive way over the past few years.

Josh Achiam is going to take on a new role as Head of Mission Alignment, working across the company to ensure that we get all pieces (and culture) right to be in a place to succeed at the mission.

Kevin and Srinivas will continue to lead the Applied team.

Matt Knight will be our Chief Information Security Officer having already served in this capacity for a long time. This has been our plan for quite some time.

Mark, Jakub, Kevin, Srinivas, Matt, and Josh will report to me. I have over the past year or so spent most of my time on the non-technical parts of our organization; I am now looking forward to spending most of my time on the technical and product parts of the company.

...

Leadership changes are a natural part of companies, especially companies that grow so quickly and are so demanding. I obviously won’t pretend it’s natural for this one to be so abrupt, but we are not a normal company, and I think the reasons Mira explained to me (there is never a good time, anything not abrupt would have leaked, and she wanted to do this while OpenAI was in an upswing) make sense. We can both talk about this more tomorrow during all-hands.

Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication.

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