Sept 16 (Reuters) - 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 AI infrastructure, a company spokesperson told

Reuters on Tuesday.

Liberatore, who left xAI in July after just three months on

the job, will report to CFO Sarah Friar and work with Greg

Brockman's team, which is charged with scaling OpenAI's access

to compute, the spokesperson said.

CNBC, which first reported the news, said Liberatore will

begin his role on Tuesday.

Liberatore, who is also a former Airbnb executive,

was involved in xAI's $5 billion debt raise in June and a

separate $5 billion strategic equity investment.

His appointment comes amid a rivalry between Musk's company

and OpenAI, as well as a fierce battle among tech companies for

AI talent.

Musk, an OpenAI co-founder, had sued the company and its

CEO, Sam Altman, last year for allegedly deviating from its

original mission to benefit humanity. OpenAI countersued Musk in

April for harassment.