Mira Murati's AI Startup Attracts OpenAI Talent

New AI Venture Led by Ex-OpenAI CTO Attracts Top Talent

Thinking Machines Lab, the recently established AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has added two significant figures to its advisory board. These additions include Bob McGrew and Alec Radford, both previously holding key positions at OpenAI.

Key Appointments to the Advisory Board

The Thinking Machines Lab website was updated in March to reflect the appointments of McGrew and Radford. Currently, a representative for the startup has not yet responded to inquiries for further comment.

Bob McGrew’s Background

McGrew initially joined OpenAI in 2017 as a technical staff member. He progressed to VP of research in 2018 and subsequently became the chief research officer.

He departed from OpenAI in September 2024, stating his intention to take a period of rest and reassessment.

Alec Radford’s Contributions to OpenAI

Radford concluded his tenure at OpenAI late in the previous year to dedicate himself to independent research, following nearly a decade of service.

He is recognized as the primary author of OpenAI’s foundational research paper detailing generative pre-trained transformers, or GPTs.

The Significance of GPT Technology

GPTs serve as the core technology behind OpenAI’s most widely used products, notably the ChatGPT AI chatbot platform.

Radford also played a crucial role in the development of various models within the GPT series, as well as the Whisper speech recognition model and DALL-E, OpenAI’s innovative image generation model.

Thinking Machines Lab’s Vision

While the specific research direction and product plans of Thinking Machines Lab remain somewhat undefined, the company announced in February its commitment to developing tools that cater to individual user requirements.

The startup aims to create AI systems that are more accessible, adaptable, and broadly capable than current offerings.

Leadership at Thinking Machines Lab

Mira Murati is serving as the CEO of Thinking Machines Lab.

John Schulman, a co-founder of OpenAI, holds the position of chief scientist.

Barret Zoph, formerly responsible for model post-training at OpenAI, is the company’s CTO.

Mira Murati’s Transition from OpenAI

Murati’s departure from OpenAI occurred in October of last year after a six-year period with the organization.

She initially joined OpenAI as VP of applied AI and partnerships.

Following her promotion to CTO in 2022, Murati oversaw the development of ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Codex, the code-generating system that powered early iterations of GitHub’s Copilot.

Funding and Team Composition

Reports indicate that Murati was in discussions to secure over $100 million in funding from unidentified venture capital firms for Thinking Machines Lab.

The company’s team comprises numerous professionals from leading AI research institutions, including OpenAI and Google DeepMind.