Trending Now - Mira Murati Accuses Sam Altman of Misleading Safety Claims in Court
WHO:
The Verge - Mira Murati, OpenAI's former CTO
The Verge - Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO
The Verge - Jason Kwon, OpenAI's general counsel and chief strategy officer
The Verge - Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI cofounder
The Verge - Helen Toner, former OpenAI board member
WHAT:
The Verge - Mira Murati testified under oath that Sam Altman lied about safety standards for a new AI model.
The Verge - Murati stated that Altman falsely claimed that OpenAI’s legal department determined a new AI model did not need to go through the deployment safety board.
The Verge - Murati described her work experience at OpenAI as being made more difficult by Altman.
The Verge - Murati confirmed a “misalignment” between statements made by Jason Kwon and Sam Altman regarding safety protocols.
The Verge - The OpenAI board stated that Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board.”
WHERE:
The Verge - The testimony took place during the Musk v. Altman trial.
WHEN:
The Verge - Murati left OpenAI in 2024.
The Verge - Altman was briefly fired in November 2023.
WHY:
The Verge - Murati criticized Altman for undermining her ability to perform her job effectively.
The Verge - The board lost confidence in Altman’s leadership due to his lack of candor.
HOW:
The Verge - Murati ensured the AI model went through the safety board after confirming discrepancies in information from Altman and Kwon.
(UPDATED May 6, 2026 21:21 UTC)
In a dramatic turn during the Musk v. Altman trial, Mira Murati, OpenAI's former CTO, testified under oath that Sam Altman lied about safety standards for a new AI model, claiming he falsely stated that the legal department had deemed it unnecessary to go through the deployment safety board. Murati also highlighted a troubling "misalignment" between the statements made by Altman and OpenAI's general counsel, Jason Kwon, while the board expressed a loss of confidence in Altman's leadership due to his inconsistent communication. She emphasized that her work at OpenAI was made more challenging by Altman's actions, which ultimately led her to leave the company in 2024.