Home
Ai
Ai News
OpenAI Murati Talent War: Three Founding Members Exit as Indian Techie Steps in as Thinking Machines CTO

OpenAI-Murati Talent War: Three Founding Members Exit as Indian Techie Steps in as Thinking Machines CTO

All three founding members who took an exit previously worked at OpenAI.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 15 January 2026 13:12 IST

OpenAI-Murati Talent War: Three Founding Members Exit as Indian Techie Steps in as Thinking Machines CTO

Photo Credit: Lightspeed Venture Partners

Meta attempted to acquire Thinking Machines Lab and poach its employees last year

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

OpenAI’s Fidji Simo posted on X, welcoming them back to the company
Mira Murati announced Soumith Chintala as the new CTO of the startup
It is said that former CTO Barret Zoph was fired due to unethical conduct

Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab appears to be going through a rough patch. The startup, which is yet to launch its first product or prototype, lost one of the co-founders to Meta last October. Now, on Wednesday, Murati announced that the company has parted ways with Co-Founder Barrett Zoph, who served as the Chief Technology Officer. Soon after, it was revealed that not only Zoph, but also two other founding members, including another co-founder, had also left the startup. Interestingly, all three have now rejoined OpenAI, hinting at an aggressive talent war between the two artificial intelligence (AI) firms.

Thinking Machines Lab Loses Three Founding Members

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Murati announced that Zoph had left the company. She also revealed that he would be replaced by Soumith Chintala, an Indian techie, who has been serving as a Member of Technical Staff. He has now been elevated to the position of CTO.

“He [Chintala] 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 added.

This Former OpenAI CTO Withstood Meta’s Billion-Dollar Recruitment Blitz

The change in responsibility comes as Zoph became the second Co-Founder of Thinking Machines Lab to take an exit. In October, Andrew Tulloch had also taken an exit to join Meta, after Murati and the startup fought off waves of acquisition and poaching attempts by the social media giant.

Interestingly, the news of Zoph leaving the company was first mentioned by X user Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes), who claimed that Zoph was fired from his position due to unethical conduct. The user, who appears to be an independent journalist, made the claim, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. This has not been confirmed by either of the parties.

However, it turns out Thinking Machines was not losing one but two co-founders and a third founding member on the same day. OpenAI's CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, shared on a post, “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. Barret will report to me; Luke and Sam will report into Barret. More to come on what they'll focus on soon!”

The talent war is rampant in Silicon Valley, and most AI companies, including OpenAI, have been at its receiving end. However, losing four of its founding members within three months, when the company has about 50 employees and no product in the market, does spell trouble for Murati and Thinking Machines Lab.

Comments

Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2026 hub.

Further reading: OpenAI, Thinking Machines Lab, Mira Murati, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Chief Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More