OpenAI's chief technology officer plans to leave the company after a six-and-a-half-year run.

Mira Murati is the latest senior executive to leave the ChatGPT developer, and comes as the company seeks to restructure its for-profit business to no longer report to its non-profit one.

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– OpenAI

"After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI," Murati said on Twitter/X. “There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right.”

Murati did not share why she plans to leave the generative AI company, other than saying that she wanted "to create the time and space to do [her] own exploration."

She added: “For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we’ve built."

The CTO was a high-profile public figure at OpenAI, one of the few execs who were able to share publicity drives alongside CEO Sam Altman. When Altman was abruptly fired last year for not being “consistently candid in his communications with the board," Murati was made interim CEO until his return.

Since then, co-founder Ilya Sutskever left to start his own company, co-founder John Schulman left to join Anthropic, former safety leader Jan Leike departed, and co-founder and president Greg Brockman took a sabbatical - among others.

The next CTO has yet to be disclosed.

Just before Murati announced her departure, Reuters reported that OpenAI is working on a plan to restructure its core for-profit business to no longer be controlled by its non-profit board.

Altman will also receive equity for the first time in the for-profit company.