Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati just testified under oath that CEO Sam Altman did not tell her the truth and that her habits interfered with her ability to do her job. The allegation in question, that Altman lied about security practices, was already public and had appeared largely in a recent new york article about Altman. Now it’s testimony in court.
For a few strange days in 2023, Murati was a Interim CEO of OpenAI after Altman was briefly fired (and then OpenAI very briefly elected another CEO, Emmet Shear). Reports from this chaotic time paints a picture of a working relationship between Altman and Murati that became strained when Murati lost Altman’s trust. Behind-the-scenes accounts say that she sent memos to the company’s board of directors and to Altman himself, questioning Altman’s management skills, and that her dismissal soon followed.
On Wednesday, the court was shown a video statement from Murati during the hearing. Musk’s legal proceedings against Altmanin which he testified to the truth of this story. A new model was being prepared for release, which according to the New Yorker was the GPT-4 Turbo, and in his testimony, as described by the edgeAltman said, OpenAI’s legal department, headed at the time by Jason Kwon, said there was no need for OpenAI’s security board to review the model.
The questioner in the deposition asked: “As you understand it, was Mr. Altman telling the truth when he made that statement to you?”
To which Murati said: “No.” He later explained in his testimony, according to the Verge, “I confirmed that what Jason was saying and what Sam was saying were not the same.” She characterized this as a “misalignment” between Altman and Kwon. Kwon is now OpenAI Strategy Director.
According to ReutersMurati said in his testimony: “My concern was that Sam would say one thing to one person and the complete opposite to another.” He also reportedly testified that Altman had been “creating chaos.” She described OpenAI at the time as “at catastrophic risk of falling apart” and said she was “worried the company would completely blow up,” according to Reuters.
According to the New Yorker, Murati’s memos to Altman and the board arrived shortly after this interaction, and “shortly thereafter, the board made the decision to fire Altman.” Murati was interim CEO for a few days, then Shear stepped in for a few days, and then Altman was reinstated. a measure that Murati publicly supported.
According to ForbesMurati testified Wednesday that after her return to OpenAI, Altman continued behaviors that had worried her, including delaying important decisions and giving inconsistent messages to different coworkers, which she said created a “very difficult and chaotic environment.”
About ten months after Sam Altman was reinstated as CEO, Murati leftand a few months later, founded his own artificial intelligence company.
