Emad Mostaque, the founder and CEO of Stability AI, has resigned from both his role and his seat on the board, the company announced late Friday. The departure caps a turbulent period for the startup behind Stable Diffusion, which has lost more than half a dozen top executives in recent quarters and faced reports of burning $8 million a month as of October 2023.

Mostaque said he is stepping down to pursue decentralized AI, writing on X that “you can’t beat centralized AI with more centralized AI.” He added that he holds a controlling stake and that his decision was voluntary. The company has appointed COO Shan Shan Wong and CTO Christian Laforte as interim co-CEOs while it searches for a permanent replacement.

The resignation follows a week that saw Inflection AI announce that two of its co-founders and several other staff had joined Microsoft. It also comes as Stability AI struggles to raise fresh capital; Bloomberg reported the startup had unsuccessfully attempted to raise new funding at a $4 billion valuation. Mostaque previously dismissed revenue concerns, but in recent months signaled a shift toward profitability, saying on Reddit that the company aims to be cash flow positive.