OpenAI cofounder John Schulman is joining former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s stealth startup after departing Anthropic just five months after signing on, two sources familiar with the matter told Fortune.
It remains unclear why Schulman chose to leave Anthropic so soon after joining, as well as what his role will be at Murati’s company. The startup has not yet announced a name or a clear product direction, though it has already made headlines for poaching employees from OpenAI, Character AI, and Google DeepMind. Schulman’s departure from Anthropic was first reported by The Information, but his move to Murati’s startup has not yet been reported.
A representative from Murati’s company declined to comment. Schulman did not return an emailed request for comment. The two sources, whose identities are known to Fortune, had knowledge of the move through firsthand conversations with relevant parties. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to share the not yet public information.
Schulman left OpenAI in August 2024, with a message on X saying he wanted 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. I’ve decided to pursue this goal at Anthropic, where I believe I can gain new perspectives and do research alongside people deeply engaged with the topics I’m most interested in.”
To be clear, he added, “I’m not leaving due to lack of support for alignment research at OpenAI. 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.”
Murati left OpenAI in September 2024, saying she wanted to “create the time and space to do my own exploration.” In October 2024, she was in talks to raise over $100 million in funding for the stealth startup, according to media reports. Last month, the startup made several high-profile hires, including Jonathan Lachman, former head of special projects at OpenAI.
One of the sources also told Fortune that in a sign of a significant organizational shift, Murati has also tapped Christian Gibson, who had been serving on OpenAI’s supercomputing team, as well as Mario Saltarelli, a longtime IT manager at OpenAI.
