Former OpenAI executive Mira Murati’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is parting ways with two co-founders, both of whom are returning to OpenAI. Another former OpenAI employee who joined Murati’s startup is also making the same move back to the organization.
Murati shared the news of Barret Zoph’s departure, who served as the company’s co-founder and CTO, on social media on Wednesday. “We have parted ways with Barret,” Murati wrote on X. “Soumith Chintala will be the new CTO of Thinking Machines. He is a brilliant and seasoned leader who has made important contributions to the AI field for over a decade, and he’s been a major contributor to our team. We could not be more excited to have him take on this new responsibility.”
Murati’s announcement didn’t mention co-founder Luke Metz or any other staff changes.
Just 58 minutes after Murati’s post about Zoph, OpenAI’s CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, announced that Zoph would be returning to OpenAI. “Excited to welcome Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz back to OpenAI! This has been in the works for several weeks, and we’re thrilled to have them join the team,” Simo shared on X.
Metz, also a co-founder of Thinking Machines, had previously worked at OpenAI for several years. Schoenholz, whose LinkedIn still lists him as part of Thinking Machines, also has a background at OpenAI.
Zoph had held the position of VP of research at OpenAI before his role at Thinking Machines, and he spent six years at Google as a research scientist earlier in his career. Murati, who was the CTO of OpenAI until September 2024, co-founded Thinking Machines with Zoph and Metz. Under her leadership as CEO, the startup has garnered significant financial backing, closing a $2 billion seed round last July, with participation from notable investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Nvidia, AMD, and Jane Street. This funding round valued the company at $12 billion.
TechCrunch has reached out to both Thinking Machines and OpenAI for comment. According to Wired, the split between Zoph and Thinking Machines wasn’t entirely amicable, which may explain Murati’s limited remarks about him in her public message regarding his departure.
While it’s common for talent to shift between AI giants in Silicon Valley, the exit of co-founders from a startup less than a year after its inception stands out. The simultaneous loss of two co-founders—especially one serving as CTO—could represent a significant setback for Thinking Machines, which had attracted a high-profile team of researchers from OpenAI, Meta, and Mistral AI.
The company has also experienced other key departures, including co-founder Andrew Tulloch, who left to join Meta in October. OpenAI itself has seen several co-founders move on to start or join competing ventures, including John Schulman, who departed for Anthropic in August 2024 before taking on the role of Chief Scientist at Thinking Machines Lab when it launched in February of last year.
