Why Did Indian-Origin CTO Srinivas Narayanan Depart From OpenAI In Just Three Years?

Srinivas Narayanan, Chief Technology Officer for B2B Applications at OpenAI, is leaving the company at the end of next week, and by his own account, the timing was deliberate. In a post shared on X, Narayanan said that recent and upcoming product launches made this 'the right time to step back,' suggesting he saw his chapter at the company as naturally complete rather than abruptly cut short. Having shepherded the company's enterprise engineering efforts through a period of explosive growth, his exit appears to be one of transition rather than conflict.

Narayanan also cited a personal reason - a desire to spend time with his ageing parents in India before deciding what comes next professionally. The IIT Madras alumnus, who has been based in San Francisco, described his three-year stint as 'an incredible journey that felt more like ten', a phrase that speaks as much to the pace of OpenAI's growth as it does to his own sense of fulfilment. For Narayanan, it seems, the mission was accomplished.

Narayan's journey at OpenAI

Narayanan joined OpenAI in April 2023 as Vice President of Engineering and was elevated to CTO of B2B Applications in September 2025. In that time, he led the engineering teams behind some of the company's most consequential products, including ChatGPT and the developer API platform. He recalled building the Applied Engineering team from roughly 40 people on a single floor at OpenAI's 575 office into a division that helped ship what he called 'some of the fastest-growing products in history.'

Before OpenAI, Narayanan had spent over a decade at Meta, then Facebook, as Vice President of Engineering, leading large-scale infrastructure and product initiatives. He had also worked at IBM's Almaden Research Center and co-founded Viralizr, where he served as CTO.

Narayan's departure was not the only one

Narayanan's departure was not an isolated event. On the same day he announced his exit, two other senior OpenAI executives, Kevin Weil, who led the company's OpenAI for Science initiative, and Bill Peebles, known for his work on AI video model Sora, also confirmed they were leaving. The OpenAI for Science division is being shut down entirely, with its work to be absorbed into other teams as part of a broader operational restructuring.

The departures follow a turbulent stretch for OpenAI's leadership. Fidji Simo, the company's product and business chief, recently announced a medical leave due to a worsening neuroimmune condition. Kate Rouch, OpenAI's marketing chief, stepped down earlier this month to focus on her cancer recovery. Brad Lightcap, the operating chief, transitioned to a new role focused on "special projects."

The leadership changes reflect a company in the midst of deliberate consolidation. OpenAI is shifting its focus away from standalone experimental programmes, such as the now-defunct Sora app and the science division, toward tighter integration of research within its core product and infrastructure pipelines. The restructuring is aimed at reducing operational complexity and aligning projects more directly with commercial goals.

This shift mirrors a broader trend across the AI industry, where firms are moving away from open-ended research units and toward commercially viable, deployment-ready products. For OpenAI, which faces intensifying competition, the changes signal a sharpened focus on enterprise adoption and scalable offerings.

OpenAI has not announced a successor to Narayanan's role.