Shakeup at OpenAI: John Schulman, Greg Brockman among top exits at ChatGPT maker

A leadership rejig is underway at the world’s most influential artificial intelligence startup, OpenAI, with many cofounders and senior executives leaving the firm. The development marks a significant shift in the landscape of AI research and development, underscoring the intense competition for top-tier talent in the tech industry.

John Schulman, one of the cofounders of OpenAI, on Monday, said in a post on social media platform X that he has left the ChatGPT maker for rival Anthropic.

“This choice stems from my desire to deepen my focus on AI alignment, and to start a new chapter of my career where I can return to hands-on technical work,” Schulman said in his post. His exit was not “due to lack of support” at OpenAI, he said.



“On the contrary, company leaders have been very committed to investing in this area. My decision is a personal one, based on how I want to focus my efforts in the next phase of my career,” he added.

On Tuesday, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and cofounder, announced that he is taking a sabbatical through the end of the year. “First time to relax since co-founding OpenAI 9 years ago. The mission is far from complete; we still have a safe AGI to build,” he wrote on X.


Peter Deng, a product manager who joined OpenAI last year, has also exited the company, as per a report in tech news website The Information.

Another of OpenAI’s cofounders, chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, too left the company in May. Sutskever announced in June that he was starting a new AI company called “Safe Superintelligence.”

Sutskever was removed from OpenAI's board in November last year, after he joined in the effort to fire CEO Sam Altman but later signed an employee letter demanding his return.

Jan Leike, another OpenAI veteran who headed the superalignment team, left the company in May. Taking to X, Leike said that “safety culture and processes have taken a backseat (at OpenAI) to shiny products”.


“OpenAI must become a safety-first AGI company,” he added

Following the departure of Sutskever and Leike, OpenAI dissolved a team focused on ensuring the safety of possible future ultra-capable AI systems.

A few other members of the superalignment team also left the company in recent months. Leopold Aschenbrenner and Pavel Izmailov, were let go by OpenAI.