Mira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ouster | The Verge

AIPolicyReportMira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ousterThe former OpenAI CTO had receipts. But they mostly confuse her own story.by Hayden FieldMay 7, 2026, 7:55 PM UTCLinkShareGift Image: The Verge; Getty ImagesAIPolicyReportMira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ousterThe former OpenAI CTO had receipts. But they mostly confuse her own story.by Hayden FieldMay 7, 2026, 7:55 PM UTCLinkShareGiftPart OfLIVELive updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAIsee all updates Hayden Field is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets.The week leading up to Thanksgiving 2023 was the AI industry’s biggest soap opera moment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from his role at the ChatGPT-maker. The explanation? That Altman was “not consistently candid in his communications with the board.” Now, via witness testimony and trial exhibits in Musk v. Altman, the public is getting a concrete look behind the scenes of that dramatic weekend for the first time, much of it centered on former CTO Mira Murati.It was a unique situation in that the rollercoaster of a power play — which seemed to change every hour — took place, in many ways, publicly. The board’s strikingly vague blog post announcing Altman’s ouster was posted on OpenAI’s website, immediately sparking a laundry lis...