Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is reportedly fundraising for a new AI startup

Mira Murati, the OpenAI CTO who announced her departure last month, is raising VC funding for a new AI startup, according to Reuters.

This startup will reportedly focus on building AI products based on proprietary models and could raise more than $100 million in this round.

When she left, Murati wrote on X that OpenAI had “fundamentally changed how AI systems learn and reason through complex problems” in its recent releases. She said, “I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration,” but didn’t offer details about her plans.

Before joining OpenAI as VP of applied AI and partnerships in 2018, Murati worked at Tesla and Leap Motion. She was promoted to CTO in 2022 — and was even named interim CEO during co-founder and CEO Sam Altman’s brief ouster.

Murati is among several OpenAI executives to leave recently; OpenAI’s chief research officer and research VP announced their departures hours after she did. A week later, OpenAI said it had raised $6.6 billion in the largest VC round of all time.