After her sudden exit from OpenAI, Mira Murati kept a low profile for months but is now ready to return to the scene with Thinking Machines Lab, a new startup that aims to change the way artificial intelligence is developed and used. Although details about the products under development are still few, the startup’s mission is clear: to create AI systems that are more understandable, customisable and capable, giving users more control over the technology. Unlike large companies in the industry, which focus on increasingly autonomous models, Thinking Machines Lab wants to build tools that help people collaborate with AI rather than replace them. The company has also promised greater transparency than its competitors, pledging to regularly publish technical research and code, an approach that could attract developers and companies looking for more open and reliable solutions.

A talent drain from OpenAI and Google DeepMind

To make this vision a reality, Mira Murati began recruiting some of the best researchers and engineers in the field of AI, snatching them directly from giants such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Character.AI. Among the first big names to join the startup are John Schulman, co-founder of OpenAI and now head of research at Thinking Machines Lab; Barrett Zoph, a former OpenAI executive who will serve as CTO, and Jonathan Lachman, former head of special projects at OpenAI. Sources close to the company report that Schulman has already begun talks with numerous researchers, seeking to attract even more talent. Overall, Thinking Machines Lab has already hired around 10 top experts from leading artificial intelligence labs.

Mira Murati

Mira Murati joined OpenAI in 2018 where she was chief technology officer. She was born in Albania 36 years ago. At the age of 16, she moved to Canada on a scholarship, then moved to the United States to major in mechanical engineering. Before OpenAI, she worked at Tesla. She started a new chapter more than two years after the day that changed her life: the release of ChatGpt on 30 November 2022. A new release of a generative artificial intelligence chatbot represented just one step in the research work undertaken by OpenAI until the discovery, five days later, that it had reached one million users: never had a technology product done so much so fast.

The commercial soul and divisions

There, the commercial soul of the company asserted itself. And there began the fortunes but also the turmoil, with two corporate souls difficult to keep together, between research and profits, until the recent plans to become officially for-profit. And to the famous exits in top management. Which side was Mira Murati on? According to rumours, which she denied, he was among those who complained about Altman’s leadership with the board. She often appeared on stage with him. In addition, she was not very familiar with interviews. She once said that probably ‘some creative jobs will disappear, but perhaps they should never have existed’ because they produced content that was not of ‘the highest quality’. Another time, he babbled with Joanna Stern of the Wsj, giving the impression that he didn’t know what data Sora, the AI video generator, was trained on. Now we know why he left.

A more flexible and accessible AI

Mira Murati’s vision seems to respond to one of the most frequent criticisms of current artificial intelligence models: the lack of transparency and user control. While OpenAI, Google and other companies are working on increasingly autonomous systems, Thinking Machines Lab wants to develop an AI that adapts to the specific needs of users, allowing them to customise their behaviour and level of autonomy. This philosophy could be an interesting alternative for companies, developers and researchers, offering more flexible models that are less constrained by large proprietary platforms. In recent months, OpenAI has already faced a haemorrhage of talent, with many key figures choosing to follow alternative paths. Thinking Machines Lab could follow in the footsteps of Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI members and now considered one of the main competitors in the sector.