OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman is leaving, too

Sam Altman isn’t the only major OpenAI executive leaving the company on Friday. Hours after Altman was fired, with the board saying it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” co-founder and former board chair Greg Brockman revealed on X that he is also quitting.

When OpenAI announced the “leadership transition” and that CTO Mira Murati would take over as interim CEO, it said that Brockman would step down as chairman but remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO. Just a few hours later, that’s no longer true.

In the post on X (formerly Twitter), Brockman said he sent the following message to OpenAI staffers:

hi everyone,

i’m super proud of what we’ve all built together since starting in my apartment 8 years ago. we’ve been through tough & great times together, accomplishing so much despite all the reasons it should have been impossible.

but based on today’s news, i quit.

genuinely wishing you all nothing but the best. i continue to believe in the mission of creating safe AGI that benefits all of humanity.

OpenAI unexpectedly announced that it had fired Altman earlier on Friday. The company arguably kicked off tech’s current infatuation with artificial intelligence following the explosive popularity of ChatGPT.