Mira Murati, formerly the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of OpenAI, has announced the launch of her own artificial intelligence startup, Thinking Machines Lab. The new venture aims to develop AI systems that are more widely understood, customisable, capable, and aligned with human values
Thinking Machines Lab seeks to differentiate itself by focusing on making AI more accessible and aligned with human values. According to a blog post by the company, their objective is to "make AI systems more widely understood, customisable, and generally capable". The startup is taking a unique approach by involving co-design between the research and product teams. They also plan to contribute to research on AI alignment by sharing code, datasets, and model specifications.
The company emphasises building AI that can adapt to the full spectrum of human expertise and enable a broader spectrum of applications, going beyond current systems that excel at programming and mathematics
Thinking Machines Lab has assembled a team of approximately 30 researchers and engineers, drawing talent from major AI companies including OpenAI, Meta, Google DeepMind, CharacterAI, and Mistral. A significant portion of the team, roughly two-thirds, consists of former OpenAI employees
Murati's move follows her resignation from OpenAI in September 2024, a departure that was one of several high-profile exits from the company amidst governance structure changes. Before joining OpenAI in June 2018, Murati worked at augmented reality startup Leap Motion and Tesla. During her tenure at OpenAI, she played a crucial role in the development of ChatGPT and was a prominent public figure for the company alongside CEO Sam Altman.
Thinking Machines Lab is reportedly in talks to raise venture capital funding. Murati's venture is part of a growing trend of former OpenAI executives launching their own AI startups. Other such startups, like Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence, have collectively raised billions in funding. Ilya Sutskever, former OpenAI chief scientist, also launched his startup called Safe Superintelligence last year.
With its focus on AI alignment and a team of experienced researchers, Thinking Machines Lab aims to make a mark in the competitive AI landscape
