Mira Murati, former OpenAI CTO, launched AI startup Thinking Machines Lab with a team of 30 researchers from various companies. The startup aims to enhance AI adaptability, build capable systems, and promote open science for broader applications in the AI field.
Former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati has launched an AI startup called Thinking Machines Lab on Tuesday, with a team of about 30 leading researchers and engineers from competitors including OpenAI, Meta and Mistral.
In September 2024, Murati had announced her decision to step down as OpenAI CTO after serving the parent company of ChatGPT for more than six years. She had announced her and explained that she made the decision to “create the time and space to do [her] own exploration.”
Two-Thirds are former OpenAI employees
Interestingly, according to Reuters report, roughly two-thirds of the company comprises former OpenAI employees including Barret Zoph, a prominent researcher who left the ChatGPT maker on the same day as Murati in late September. Zoph will take on the role of technology chief at the startup.
OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is the startup’s chief scientist. Schulman left OpenAI for rival Anthropic in August, saying that he wanted to “focus on AI alignment”.
In addition to this, requesting anonymity, sources told Reuters that more former OpenAI staff are likely to join the company.
Coming back to her AI startup, Mira Murati took to X and shared that she co-founded Thinking Machines Lab with a team of scientists, engineers, and experts.
She added that the company focuses on three things, “Helping people adapt AI systems to work for their specific needs; Developing strong foundations to build more capable AI systems; Fostering a culture of open science that helps the whole field understand and improve these systems.”
She added, “Our goal is simple, advance AI by making it broadly useful and understandable through solid foundations, open science, and practical applications.”
According to the company’s blogpost, this latest entrant into the crowded AI startup space “wants to build artificial intelligence systems that encode human values and aim at a broader number of applications than rivals.”
In another update, sources also told Reuters that the company has been in talks to raise venture capital funding from investors.