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

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.

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.