| Happy Thursday, it's Rachel in San Francisco. The surprise departure of OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati marks the latest high-level exit from the high-flying artificial intelligence startup. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Micron's bullish forecast for memory chip sales blew past expectations
• Google accused Microsoft of abusing its market power in the EU
• Ubisoft delayed the release date of the next Assassin's Creed video game Mira Murati was a key figure at the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup — a high-ranking female executive who even held the title of interim chief executive officer after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted last November. She joined the company in 2018 and had been CTO since 2022. On Wednesday, Murati said in a statement on X that she was "stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration." Altman responded, "It's hard to overstate how much Mira has meant to OpenAI, our mission, and to us all personally." Then, within hours, the CEO announced two more departures: Bob McGrew, the company's chief research officer, and Barret Zoph, a vice president of research. "Leadership changes are a natural part of companies, especially companies that grow so quickly and are so demanding," Altman wrote. "I obviously won't pretend it's natural for this one to be so abrupt, but we are not a normal company." The exits are just the latest high-profile leadership changes at the company since Altman's dramatic and short-lived firing. In the months after Altman's return, four other members of OpenAI's founding team stepped back, including Ilya Sutskever, formerly the startup's chief scientist, who played a key role in its ascent and in pushing Altman out. As of September, Altman and researcher Wojciech Zaremba were the only co-founders remaining from the original 11-person team. Greg Brockman, another founder who is also the company's president, is on leave until the end of the year. Change has come swiftly for OpenAI, which was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization before creating a for-profit subsidiary in 2019. It's grown into a 1,700-person giant, up from just 770 employees at the time of Altman's ouster. Now, it's in talks to raise $6.5 billion at a $150 billion valuation, making it one of the most valuable startups in the world. As part of the transition, there have also been restructurings and staff departures among those whose work is focused on safety at the company. In May, for instance, OpenAI decided to effectively dissolve a team called "superalignment" that focused on ensuring the safety of possible future ultra-capable AI systems. Sutskever and another OpenAI veteran, Jan Leike, had been running the team, but Leike resigned shortly after Sutskever's exit. A number of other team members also departed over time. The company subsequently integrated the group more deeply across its research efforts to help it achieve its safety goals, it told Bloomberg News at the time. OpenAI has rejiggered its board over this period, too, removing most of the previous members and increasing the total number of directors. It's also been mulling a transition to a for-profit company, potentially giving Altman a 7% equity stake, the first time he'll have ownership of the startup. It's a lot of upheaval for any company, particularly over a short period of time. A significant amount of turnover and change is to be expected at a fast-growing startup, said Tammy Madsen, a professor of strategy and innovation at Santa Clara University. That's especially true for a business operating in a market like AI that is rapidly evolving. But that doesn't mean it will always be smooth, of course. "I think it will be chaotic," she said — in an interview before Wednesday's upheaval.—Rachel Metz Meta took the next step to fulfill CEO Mark Zuckerberg's goal of making the metaverse mainstream when it unveiled augmented reality glasses called Orion. The glasses, still being tested by employees, provide a combined view of the digital and physical worlds. Executives expect Orion will be a commercial product within the decade. Business software startup Rippling introduced an AI bot that will help evaluate the performance of new employees. Singapore entertainment firm Neon is said to be considering an initial public offering next year. Oracle's investment in startup chipmaker Ampere gives the software company the option to take control in the future. | 
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