OpenAI has hired Mike Liberatore, former finance chief at Elon Musk’s xAI, to be the artificial intelligence startup’s business finance officer, responsible for overseeing its massive infrastructure spending.
Liberatore, who left xAI in July after just three months on the job, begins Tuesday, a company spokesperson told CNBC. He will report to CFO Sarah Friar and work with Greg Brockman’s team, which manages the contracts and capital behind OpenAI’s compute strategy.
The hiring of Liberatore is the latest move in an escalating feud between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk, who used to be good friends but have turned into bitter rivals. The pair helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab, but had a public falling out in recent years as the company morphed into a rapid-growing commercial enterprise, financed principally by Microsoft
Musk sued Altman and OpenAI last year for breach of contract and has since tried to thwart the company’s effort to restructure into a for-profit entity. OpenAI took a significant step towards that transition last week, announcing that its nonprofit parent will continue to have oversight over the company and will own an equity stake of more than $100 billion.
