Andrej Karpathy, an important figure in the field of artificial intelligence and a founding member of OpenAI, announced his departure from the Microsoft-backed company on Monday, as revealed in a social media post. This development signifies a major transition within OpenAI, a leading AI research company, working towards advancing artificial intelligence capabilities.

In his statement shared on Tuesday, Karpathy expressed his immediate plans to focus on personal projects and explore future opportunities. His departure comes after rejoining OpenAI last year, following his tenure as a senior director for AI at Tesla, where he played a pivotal role in the development of the electric car manufacturer's AI and driver assistance technology.

With a background in studying under esteemed Stanford AI scientist Fei-Fei Li, Karpathy initially contributed to OpenAI as one of its earliest team members before his tenure at Tesla. Notably, he has recently discussed the concept of large language models potentially serving as a novel form of computer operating systems, reflecting his ongoing influence and innovative thinking in the AI landscape.

(With Reuters inputs)