• Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI, has launched Thinking Machines Lab.
• Her new startup focuses on human-AI collaboration and maintaining high standards for AI safety.
• Murati has hired top talent from Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Thinking Machines Lab, a new company created by Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI, emerged from stealth on Tuesday.

In a blog post, the startup positioned itself as an artificial intelligence research and product lab focused on making these systems more accessible.

"To bridge the gaps, we're building Thinking Machines Lab to make AI systems more widely understood, customizable and generally capable," Murati wrote.

From the moment Murati stepped away from OpenAI, venture capitalists started circling the machine learning maven, vying to be among the first to offer checks to her new company.

In just a few months, Murati has assembled a team of machine learning researchers and engineers from Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and other tech goliaths. The company reunites several of Murati's former coworkers, including John Schulman, who co-led the creation of ChatGPT; Jonathan Lachman, formerly the head of special projects at OpenAI; and Alexander Kirillov, who worked closely with Murati on ChatGPT's voice mode.

In the post, Murati said the startup would "emphasize human-AI collaboration" and "build multimodal systems that work with people collaboratively." She also said the startup would contribute to AI safety by "maintaining a high safety bar" that prevents the misuse of the company's released models, sharing best practices on how to build safe AI systems, and adding to external safety research.

• After leaving the ChatGPT maker last year, the ex-OpenAI CTO is building a new startup.
• She has recruited talent from OpenAI, as well as other AI startups.
• Murati is among a handful of former OpenAI execs to leave and launch their own companies.

Since leaving OpenAI in the fall of 2024, former exec Mira Murati has wasted no time starting her next venture.

Less than a month after leaving OpenAI, Murati was already engaging in early talks to raise money for her new AI company, Reuters reported, with venture capitalists clamoring to meet with her.

She's also been quietly hiring researchers and engineers for her stealth startup.

As of January, Murati had recruited about 10 people for her company from competitors, including Character AI, Google DeepMind, and her former employer, Wired reported. Murati told some people she plans to call the startup Thinking Machine Labs, The Information reported.

Murati spent six and a half years at OpenAI, where she served as CTO, working on the development of ChatGPT and other AI research initiatives. She was briefly appointed interim CEO in November 2023 after OpenAI's board abruptly fired Sam Altman, a move that sparked turmoil within the company. After Altman's reinstatement as CEO, Murati resumed her role as CTO.

Murati is one of a handful of former OpenAI executives who have gone on to launch their own companies. Former OpenAI chief scientist and cofounder Ilya Sutskever left the company in May 2024 and started Safe Superintelligence Inc. soon after leaving. Dario and Daniela Amodei, who also both worked at OpenAI, founded Anthropic in 2021.

The flurry of departures to start and join new companies, coupled with plans to convert the company to a for-profit company, adds to the uncertainty surrounding the ChatGPT maker.

OpenAI and a spokesperson for Murati did not respond to a request for comment.

Here are the OpenAI employees who are known to have left the company so far to join Murati's startup.