OpenAI CTO Srinivas Narayanan Resigns, Plans Return to India After 3 Years
Srinivas Narayanan, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of B2B Applications at OpenAI, has announced his resignation. Narayanan, an Indian-origin tech leader, plans to return to India after three years with the company. He informed the leadership team about his decision earlier this month.
Tenure at OpenAI
Narayanan joined OpenAI in April 2023 as Vice President of Engineering. He later became CTO in September 2025. His leadership has coincided with significant product launches at the company.
A Reflective Goodbye
In a message on X, Narayanan called his time at OpenAI an incredible journey. He noted that it felt like ten years rather than three. He expressed gratitude for leading the B2B engineering team, calling it an enormous privilege.
- Joined OpenAI: April 2023
- Promoted to CTO: September 2025
- Resignation announcement: Next week
Narayanan reminisced about his early days at OpenAI, highlighting his role in leading the Applied Engineering team. This team was instrumental in launching some of the fastest-growing products in history, such as ChatGPT and its API.
Future Plans
After leaving OpenAI, Narayanan is set to take a break. He plans to spend quality time with his family in India, particularly with his aging parents. He stated, “I am looking forward to spending some much-needed time with my aging parents in India before deciding what’s next.”
Background of Srinivas Narayanan
According to his LinkedIn profile, Narayanan holds a B.Tech in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He also earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His career began in 1997 as a software engineer at IBM’s Almaden Research Center. He later served as Director of Technology at Tavant Technologies and co-founded Viralizr, where he was CTO.
In 2008, he joined Meta (then Facebook) as Vice President of Engineering, where he spent over ten years leading various engineering teams and initiatives.
His departure marks a notable transition for both Narayanan and OpenAI, as he reflects on a historic period in technology.
