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

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

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

When he left, Murati wrote in X that OpenAI had “fundamentally changed the way AI systems learn and think about complex problems” in its latest release. He said, “I’m leaving because I want to create time and space to explore myself,” but he didn’t give details about his plans.

Before joining OpenAI as VP of applied AI and collaboration in 2018, Mrati worked at Tesla and Leap Motion. He was promoted to CTO in 2022 — until he was named interim CEO when founder and CEO Sam Altman was summarily fired.

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