Former OpenAI CTO Establishes New Team
Former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati announced the establishment of “Thinking Machines Lab” on February 18. The team consists of 30 researchers and engineers from OpenAI, Meta, Mistral, and other organizations.
Unlike other companies founded by former OpenAI executives, Thinking Machines Lab does not solely pursue the “holy grail” of the AI field—AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)—but rather aims to popularize AI applications, placing greater emphasis on AI safety and transparency.
“We not only want to create fully automated AI systems but also aim to develop AI systems that work closely with humans,” stated Thinking Machines Lab. “Current AI systems excel in programming and mathematical calculations, but what we want to achieve is a broader application of AI.”
Former OpenAI CTO Founding: Aiming to Create More Human-Centric AI Systems?
“I co-founded this company with a group of outstanding scientists, engineers, and developers.” Regarding the objectives of Thinking Machines Lab, Murati pointed out that, in addition to enabling users to customize AI systems to meet individual needs, they also hope to develop more powerful AI systems and promote a culture of open science.
I started Thinking Machines Lab alongside a remarkable team of scientists, engineers, and builders. We’re building three things:
– Helping people adapt AI systems to work for their specific needs
– Developing strong foundations to build more capable AI systems
– Fostering a…— Mira Murati (@miramurati) February 18, 2025
Murati noted that a significant problem in the current AI landscape is that, although AI systems are powerful, they are difficult for the average person to understand and use. “The scientific community’s understanding of cutting-edge AI systems has not kept pace with the speed of AI functionality development. The training methods for these systems are largely held within top research laboratories, which limits public discussion about AI and the ability for people to use AI,” stated Thinking Machines Lab.
Although Thinking Machines Lab currently has no products or models available, the team’s goal is to develop “multimodal” AI systems that can collaborate with humans. “We not only want to develop fully autonomous AI systems but are committed to building multimodal systems capable of collaborating with humans.” The team emphasized that such systems focus more on human-machine collaboration and can adapt to various professional fields. They stated that they are developing AI models in areas like science and programming to facilitate new scientific discoveries and engineering innovations.
AI safety and transparency are also core objectives for Thinking Machines Lab. Compared to other competitors, the team indicated that they would enhance safety through various means, including sharing best practices and safety development guidelines with the industry. The research and product teams will adopt a “co-design” model and commit to maintaining research transparency by sharing code, datasets, and model specifications to accelerate external research.
In comparison to competitors like OpenAI, the team stated that the research and product teams will adopt a “co-design” model and commit to maintaining research transparency by sharing code, datasets, and model specifications to accelerate external research.
Image / DALL·E
Additionally, Thinking Machines Lab emphasizes that the value of AI should be reflected in its contributions to the real world. They believe that the most important breakthroughs often come from rethinking goals rather than merely optimizing existing metrics.
Who is Mira Murati, former Tesla and OpenAI executive?
Before joining OpenAI, Murati worked at Tesla for three years as a senior product manager for the Model X. During this time, Tesla released early versions of the Autopilot driving assistance system. In 2018, Murati joined OpenAI and was promoted to Chief Technology Officer in 2022, leading the development of ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Codex. During the brief period in November 2024 when Sam Altman was dismissed by the OpenAI board, she served as interim CEO of OpenAI, supporting Altman’s return amidst the turmoil, and then left OpenAI in October of the same year.
Today, we are excited to announce Thinking Machines Lab (https://t.co/gD5QlPMfWw), an artificial intelligence research and product company. We are scientists, engineers, and builders behind some of the most widely used AI products and libraries, including ChatGPT,…— Thinking Machines (@thinkymachines) February 18, 2025
Currently, the Thinking Machines Lab team comprises about 30 individuals, including researchers from AI giants like Google DeepMind, Character.ai, and Mistral, along with many former high-level executives from OpenAI. In addition to Barret Zoph, who served as Chief Researcher at OpenAI and now holds the position of CTO, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman serves as Chief Scientist.
References: Tech Crunch, The New York Times, Reuters, The Verge, AXIOS
This article is collaboratively reprinted from: Startup Gathering