Sam Altman, one of the best-known figures in artificial intelligence, has been pushed out as CEO at OpenAI, with the company announcing on Friday that its board “no longer has confidence” in his leadership.

Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati will take the helm as the company’s interim CEO. 

“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the company said in its statement.

Murati, who has been at OpenAI for five years, was named the company’s Chief Technology Officer last year and “already leads the company research, product and safety functions,” said Open AI, a leader in so-called generative artificial intelligence.

Based in San Francisco, the technology startup founded in 2015 released online chatbot ChatGPT about a year ago, setting off an AI boom that made Altman famous and landed him meetings with President Joe Biden and other leaders.

Outspoken and known for stirring controversy, Altman has helped develop AI while also sounding the alarm about the technology’s potential threat to humanity.