Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, is losing two of its co-founders as key talent returns to OpenAI. Murati confirmed that co-founder and chief technology officer Barret Zoph has departed the company, with Soumith Chintala appointed as the new CTO.
Shortly after the announcement, OpenAI said Zoph would rejoin the company alongside Luke Metz, another Thinking Machines co-founder, and Sam Schoenholz, a former OpenAI researcher who had also joined the startup. Zoph previously served as OpenAI’s vice president of research and worked as a research scientist at Google.
Murati left OpenAI in 2024 and co-founded Thinking Machines, which raised a $2 billion seed round last year at a $12 billion valuation. The company has since seen additional departures, including co-founder Andrew Tulloch, who joined Meta.
The talent moves underscore intensifying competition among AI firms, as OpenAI has increasingly relied on high compensation packages to retain and reclaim top researchers amid an escalating industry-wide talent war.
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