Thinking Machines Lab Loses Two Co-Founders to OpenAI, Reflecting a Broader Trend in AI Labs
Less than a year after its launch, Mira MuratiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is seeing two of its co-founders return to OpenAI, underscoring the fast-moving nature of talent in the AI world.
Murati, former CTO of OpenAI, founded Thinking Machines with Barret ZophDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Luke MetzDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → after leaving OpenAI in late 2024. Recently, Murati announced on social media that Zoph, the company’s co-founder and CTO, had departed, with Soumith ChintalaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → stepping in as the new CTO. Shortly after, OpenAI CEO Fidji SimoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → confirmed that Zoph, Metz, and Sam Schoenholz—another former Thinking Machines staffer—would be joining OpenAI. Reports suggest Zoph’s exit was not entirely amicable.
The move follows other notable exits at Thinking Machines, including Andrew TullochDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, who joined Meta last October. Frontier AI labs have seen significant co-founder turnover: OpenAI lost 8 of 11 co-founders, Thinking Machines 3 of 6, SSI 1 of 3, DeepMind 1 of 3, and xAIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → 3 of 12, while AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has retained all its founders, suggesting that internal culture may play a key role in retention.
The departures pose a strategic challenge for Thinking Machines, which has built a high-profile research team with talent from OpenAI, Meta, and Mistral AI, at a time when the competition for AI leadership and expertise remains fierce.
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