OpenAI employees

Extracted Attributes

• Equity Stake

  47% (held collectively with other investors in OpenAI Group PBC)

• Primary Location

  San Francisco, California, US

• Chief People Officer

  Julia Villagra

• Department Distribution

  Engineering (56%), Business Management, Marketing & Product, Human Resources, Finance, Sales & Support

• Headcount (November 2023)

  770 employees

• Headcount (September 2024)

  3,531 employees

Timeline

• OpenAI employees begin a unified protest following the board's removal of Sam Altman, eventually forcing his reinstatement. (Source: Document 53b39af3-c6ec-4159-8c45-2bf389908316)

  2023-11-17

• Throughout 2024, approximately half of the AI safety research staff depart the company citing concerns over industry-wide safety problems. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2024-01-01

• OpenAI's workforce is reported to have expanded to 3,531 individuals, up from 770 a year prior. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-09-30

• Following corporate restructuring, employees and other investors are confirmed to hold a 47% stake in the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-10-01

OpenAI

OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence research organization comprising both a non-profit foundation and a controlled for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC), headquartered in San Francisco, California. It aims to develop "safe and beneficial" artificial general intelligence (AGI), which it defines as "highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work". OpenAI is widely recognized for its development of the GPT family of large language models, the DALL-E series of text-to-image models, and a text-to-video model named Sora, which have influenced industry research and commercial applications. Its release of ChatGPT in November 2022 has been credited with catalyzing widespread interest in generative AI. The organization was founded in 2015 in Delaware but evolved a complex corporate structure. As of October 2025, following restructuring approved by California and Delaware regulators, the non-profit OpenAI Foundation holds 26% of the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, with Microsoft holding 27% and employees/other investors holding 47%. Under its governance arrangements, the OpenAI Foundation holds the authority to appoint the board of the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, a mechanism designed to align the entity’s strategic direction with the Foundation’s charter. Microsoft previously invested over $13 billion into OpenAI, and provides Azure cloud computing resources. In October 2025, OpenAI conducted a $6.6 billion share sale that valued the company at $500 billion. In 2023 and 2024, OpenAI faced multiple lawsuits for alleged copyright infringement against authors and media companies whose work was used to train some of OpenAI's products. In November 2023, OpenAI's board removed Sam Altman as CEO, citing a lack of confidence in him, but reinstated him five days later following a reconstruction of the board. Throughout 2024, roughly half of then-employed AI safety researchers left OpenAI, citing the company's prominent role in an industry-wide problem.

Web Search Results

• Employee Data and Trends for OpenAI | Unify

  OpenAI’s workforce is concentrated in the United States, with approximately 1,767 employees in San Francisco and 244 in New York. Additional hubs include Seattle (108) and Los Angeles (42), while London hosts 92 team members, supporting outreach to the European AI community. Smaller clusters are located in Austin, Washington DC, Dublin, and Singapore, and an "Other" category accounts for 300 employees who work remotely or in satellite offices. The distribution indicates a hybrid approach that [...] Engineering is OpenAI’s largest department at about 1,480 employees, representing close to 56 % of total headcount and highlighting the company’s focus on advancing core AI capabilities. Business Management (233) and Marketing & Product (225) follow, reflecting efforts to commercialise research and manage customer adoption. Human Resources (212) and Finance & Administration (128) illustrate the infrastructure supporting a growing organisation, while Sales & Support (107), Operations (91), IT [...] OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research and deployment company best known for ChatGPT and the GPT series of large language models, reports a global headcount of roughly 2,659 employees. Recent hiring activity (886 additions against 121 departures) points to continued expansion and a positive net growth trend in staff. Engineering makes up the majority of roles, underscoring the organisation’s research-first culture, while business and operational teams have also scaled to support

• OpenAI has thousands of employees and is hiring thousands more ...

  r/OpenAI icon OpenAIWhite OpenAIWhite - # OpenAI has thousands of employees and is hiring thousands more…why? r/OpenAI - OpenAI has thousands of employees and is hiring thousands more…why? r/OpenAI - OpenAI has thousands of employees and is hiring thousands more…why? Two thirds of their employees are non engineering. If OpenAI isn’t using AI to replace employees, how are other companies supposed to do that? # Related Answers Section

• OpenAI Executive Leadership Team [2026] - DigitalDefynd Education

  OpenAI’s executive team represents a unique convergence of visionary ambition, technical mastery, and operational discipline—all anchored around a singular mission: ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. From Sam Altman’s long-term thinking and Greg Brockman’s infrastructure vision, to research innovation under Jakub Pachocki and product excellence from leaders like Kevin Weil and Fidji Simo, this C-suite blends cutting-edge science with real-world scale. The team [...] Julia Villagra serves as Chief People Officer at OpenAI, leading the organization’s talent development, hiring, performance systems, and internal culture. With a background in both startup and large-scale HR environments, Villagra plays a key role in maintaining OpenAI’s strong internal mission alignment while scaling a fast-growing, high-performance team. She focuses on retaining top research and engineering talent, building inclusive practices, and evolving OpenAI’s organizational design to [...] Sam Altman is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of OpenAI. A highly influential figure in Silicon Valley, Altman previously served as president of Y Combinator before co-founding OpenAI in 2015. Known for his bold vision to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) that benefits humanity, Altman has led OpenAI through major product milestones including the launches of GPT-3, ChatGPT, and the GPT-4 model family. In 2023, he was briefly removed from his position in a high-profile

• List of Openai Executives & Org Chart - Clay

  Brad Lightcap, the Chief Operating Officer at OpenAI, is responsible for overseeing the company's operational functions and ensuring that strategic initiatives are executed efficiently. His main areas of expertise include operational management, strategic planning, and financial oversight. [...] At the top of OpenAI's organizational chart is Greg Brockman, the President, Chairman, and Co-Founder, who oversees the strategic vision and ensures the seamless execution of the company's goals. Reporting directly to him are Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer, and Brad Lightcap, the Chief Operating Officer, who manage technological advancements and operational functions, respectively. [...] Greg Brockman, the President, Chairman, and Co-Founder at OpenAI, is instrumental in shaping the company's strategic vision and driving its mission forward. His contributions include overseeing key initiatives and ensuring the seamless execution of OpenAI's goals.

• How Many People Work at OpenAI? Statistics & Facts (2025) - SEO.ai

  As of September 2024, OpenAI employs 3,531 individuals, a significant increase from the 770 employees in November 2023. This growth underscores the company's rapid expansion and rising influence in artificial intelligence. > OpenAI's rapid expansion and rising influence in artificial intelligence are underscored by its growth from 770 employees in November 2023 to 3,531 individuals as of September 2024. What is OpenAI? [...] By September 2024, OpenAI's workforce had expanded to 3,531 employees, a significant increase from the 770 employees in November 2023. This growth underscores the company's rapid expansion and rising influence in artificial intelligence. Want to try the #1 AI Toolkit for SEO teams? Our AI SEO assistants helps write and optimize everything - from descriptions and articles to product feeds - so they appeal to both customers and search engine algorithms. Try it now with a free trial→ [...] OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research organization founded in December 2015 in San Francisco by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba, and John Schulman. Initially established as a non-profit, OpenAI aims to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.