# Mira Murati

Ermira "Mira" Murati (born 16 December 1988) is an engineer, researcher, and tech executive. She served as chief technology officer of OpenAI from May 2022 to September 2024.

## Early life and education

Murati was born in Vlorë on 16 December 1988 in what was then the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. At age 16, she won a United World Colleges (UWC) academic scholarship to study at the Pearson College on Vancouver Island, Canada, from which she graduated in 2005. She then entered a dual-degree program in the United States, receiving her Bachelor of Arts from Colby College in 2011, followed in 2012 by a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.

## Career
### Early career

Murati briefly worked for Zodiac Aerospace as an intern before joining electric car company Tesla in 2013. In Tesla she joined as a product manager on the Model X directly after her bachelor's in mechanical engineering. From 2016 until joining OpenAI in 2018, she worked for augmented reality start-up Leap Motion (now Ultraleap). In 2018, She joined as the VP of applied AI and has since been promoted to CTO of OpenAI.

### OpenAI

Murati joined OpenAI in 2018 as the "VP of Applied AI and Partnerships" in December 2020, and became chief technology officer (CTO) in May 2022. As CTO, she led its work on ChatGPT, Dall-E, Codex and Sora, while overseeing its research, product and safety teams. She oversaw technical advancements and direction of OpenAI's various projects, including the development of advanced AI models and tools. Her work was instrumental in the development and deployment of some of OpenAI's most notable products, such as the Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) series of language models. Her work included pushing the boundaries of machine learning while advocating for the responsible and ethical use of AI technologies. Commenting about the potential loss of creative jobs to AI, Murati said that "maybe [the jobs] shouldn’t have been there in the first place".
In November 2023, Murati briefly took over as interim chief executive officer of OpenAI following the removal of Sam Altman from the job. She was replaced by Emmett Shear three days later, who was in turn ousted when Altman was reinstated five days after being removed. Following this series of events, Murati returned to her role as CTO.
In September 2024, Murati announced that she was stepping down as CTO to allow her the opportunity to "do my own exploration". In her exit memo, she expressed gratitude towards the OpenAI team and highlighted the success of their recent developments in AI, including speech-to-speech technology and OpenAI's work on "robust, aligned, and steerable" models. This move came amid a wider executive exodus as OpenAI chief research officer Bob McGrew and a vice president of research, Barret Zoph, also announced their departures soon after.

### Thinking Machines Lab

In February 2025, Murati launched an AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab. It was reported to have hired "a team of about 30 leading researchers and engineers from competitors including OpenAI, Meta and Mistral."

## Awards and recognition

In October 2023, Murati was ranked 57th on Fortune's list of "The 100 Most Powerful Women in Business of 2023".
In September 2023, when writing for Time's 2023 100 Next list of rising leaders across industries, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praised Murati's "ability to assemble teams with technical expertise, commercial acumen, and a deep appreciation for the importance of mission". Nadella went on to say, "Mira has helped build some of the most exciting AI technologies we’ve ever seen, including ChatGPT, DALL-E, and GPT-4."
In June 2024, Dartmouth College awarded Murati an honorary Doctor of Science for having "democratized technology and advanced a better, safer world for us all".
In September 2024, Murati was included in Time's list of "The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2024".

## Publications

* Murati, Ermira (Spring 2022). "Language & Coding Creativity". Dædalus (Journal of the AAAS). 151 (2). Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS): 156–167. doi:10.1162/daed_a_01907. Retrieved 25 September 2024.