In a notable leadership development for the global artificial intelligence industry, Srinivas Narayanan, CTO of B2B Applications at OpenAI, has announced that he will be leaving the company at the end of next week, concluding a highly impactful three-year journey during one of the most transformative phases in OpenAI’s growth story.
Narayanan shared the update through posts on LinkedIn and X, stating that the timing felt right following a series of recent and upcoming product launches. He also revealed that he plans to spend time in India with his family before deciding on the next phase of his professional journey.
Describing his tenure at OpenAI, Narayanan said the last three years had been “an incredible journey that felt more like ten,” reflecting the extraordinary pace and scale at which the company evolved during his time there.
His departure comes at a time when OpenAI continues to remain at the forefront of the AI revolution through products such as ChatGPT, enterprise AI solutions, and developer platforms that are reshaping industries worldwide.
Plans Time with Parents in India
In his message, Narayanan said he is looking forward to spending some much-needed time with his ageing parents in India before deciding what comes next.
The statement added a personal and emotional dimension to the announcement, highlighting the importance of family priorities even for leaders operating at the highest levels of the global technology industry.
At a time when AI leaders are navigating one of the fastest-moving sectors in the world, his decision also reflects the growing importance many executives place on balancing professional success with personal commitments.
Played a Key Role in OpenAI’s Growth
During his tenure, Narayanan led OpenAI’s B2B engineering team and previously headed the Applied Engineering function. These teams were responsible for helping transform OpenAI’s breakthrough research into real-world products for businesses, developers, and millions of users globally.
He recalled the early phase of the Applied Engineering team when it was only around 40 people operating from a single floor at the company’s office, compared with the far larger scale at which OpenAI functions today.
Narayanan also noted that the company shipped some of the fastest-growing products in history, including ChatGPT and the OpenAI API, despite having no real playbook to guide execution.
Gratitude to OpenAI Leadership
In his farewell message, Narayanan thanked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President and Co-founder Greg Brockman, and the broader leadership team for what he described as the opportunity of a lifetime.
“I will cherish this time forever during this historic period for technology and society, and I wish you all the very best for the future,” he wrote.
Leading During a Historic AI Expansion Phase
Narayanan’s tenure coincided with one of the most important periods in modern technology history, when generative AI shifted rapidly from experimental capability to mainstream usage.
The launch of ChatGPT sparked global adoption at an unprecedented pace, while the OpenAI API became a foundational platform for developers and enterprises building next-generation AI applications. Managing product growth at such scale required exceptional engineering execution, rapid iteration cycles, infrastructure resilience, and the ability to adapt in real time to global demand. Industry observers believe leaders overseeing these operational transitions played a vital role in OpenAI’s emergence as one of the most influential technology companies in the world.
Witnessed OpenAI’s Growth from Startup Scale to Global Force
Narayanan also reflected on the early days of the engineering team, recalling that the organization once consisted of only around 40 people. Since then, OpenAI has grown dramatically into a large-scale global enterprise supporting millions of users, enterprise customers, strategic partnerships, and research initiatives across multiple markets.
This shift from a relatively lean engineering organization to a company operating at worldwide scale reflects the extraordinary pace of growth experienced over the last few years. His comments offered rare insight into the internal evolution of OpenAI during its rise to industry leadership.
What His Exit Means for the Industry
Narayanan’s departure marks the exit of a leader who helped bridge frontier AI research with commercial product reality. His work sat at the intersection of innovation, engineering scale, and enterprise readiness, three areas that remain critical in the increasingly competitive AI market.
For OpenAI, his contribution will be remembered as part of the leadership group that helped scale products used by millions worldwide.
For the wider industry, his next move will attract strong attention given his experience in building high-growth products during one of the most historic chapters in artificial intelligence.
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