OpenAI’s board announced Sam Altman’s termination on November 16, 2023, citing a pattern of dishonesty and a lack of transparency. The public statement was terse, sparking a wave of speculation on social media and prompting a flurry of internal communications that remained hidden until former CTO Mira Murati testified this week.

Murati’s deposition painted a picture of a board that was fed a detailed, 52‑page memorandum outlining concerns about Altman’s leadership. The memo, prepared by Ilya Sutskever and presented to the board, alleged that Altman routinely misled the directors about safety protocols, his ownership stake in OpenAI’s startup fund, and the rollout of key features such as ChatGPT.

When the board voted to fire Altman, Murati was named interim CEO. Within hours, she stepped aside for Emmett Shear, a former Twitch executive brought in as an outside “fixer.” The rapid turnover underscored the board’s uncertainty and the intensity of the power struggle.

During the overnight hours following Altman’s ouster, Murati exchanged 78 text messages with the ousted CEO. Their messages, spanning a 14‑hour window, reveal a frantic attempt to assess the board’s stance and to explore options for a possible return. Murati warned Altman that the board’s sentiment was “directionally very bad,” and she relayed that the board had already decided on a new CEO—she referred to the choice as a “rando twitch guy.”

Murati also reached out to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, hoping the tech giant could intervene. In a series of one‑sided texts, she asked Nadella to issue a public statement supporting the OpenAI team, warning that a mass exodus of researchers to Microsoft‑backed projects was looming. The employee letter that followed, signed by more than 750 staff members, listed Murati as its first signatory and accused the board of jeopardizing the company’s mission.

Board member Helen Toner testified that Murati’s role was pivotal but that she appeared “strikingly unsupportive” after Altman’s dismissal. Toner said Murati seemed to wait for the wind to blow before deciding which side to back, a stance that left the board’s decision‑making process opaque.

Within days, the board’s composition changed dramatically. Four directors who had signed the termination letter stepped down, and Altman was reinstated as CEO. Murati, who had briefly led the company, returned to her role as chief technology officer, while the board’s authority was effectively dismantled.

The deposition also highlighted Murati’s earlier concerns, documented in a September 2022 internal memo. She criticized a culture of constant panic, shifting priorities, and a focus on revenue over user‑centric development. The memo warned that Altman’s push for $100 million in revenue, regardless of the means, created chaos and undermined leadership credibility.

Murati’s courtroom remarks reaffirmed those criticisms, emphasizing that her objections were “completely management related.” She described her job as “incredibly hard” in a complex organization and insisted that Altman needed to lead with clarity, not undermine her ability to execute.

The testimony offers the first concrete view into the behind‑the‑scenes maneuvering that turned OpenAI’s leadership crisis into a public spectacle. It also underscores how employee solidarity, executive pressure, and external allies like Microsoft reshaped the outcome, ultimately restoring Altman to his position and leaving the board’s future in question.

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