Why OpenAI's CTO Srinivas Narayanan has quit the company
What's the story
Srinivas Narayanan, a senior engineering leader at OpenAI, has announced his decision to leave the company by the end of next week. The move comes as a major leadership exit amid OpenAI's rapid growth in its enterprise AI business. Narayanan said in an X post that after "three incredible years," he felt now was the right time to step back due to recent and upcoming product launches.
Professional journey
Narayanan's role at OpenAI
As the CTO of B2B Applications, Narayanan previously led engineering teams for some of OpenAI's most popular products, including ChatGPT and its developer API platform. He joined OpenAI as Vice President of Engineering in April 2023 and was promoted to his current position in September 2025. During his time at the company, he helped build and scale its applied engineering team, the group that turns AI research into usable products.
Previous experience
His previous experience
Before joining OpenAI, Narayanan spent over a decade at Meta, where he led engineering for Facebook Photos and worked on AI systems such as language, vision, and recommendation tools. He began his career at IBM's Almaden Research Center after completing his B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Madras and a Master's program in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Next steps
Plans after leaving OpenAI
After leaving OpenAI, Narayanan plans to spend some much-needed time with his aging parents in India before deciding on his next move. His departure comes as Kevin Weil, OpenAI's head of science initiatives, and Bill Peebles, leader of its Sora AI video team, are also leaving the company. Despite these exits, there has been no announcement yet on who will succeed Narayanan at OpenAI.