Former OpenAI tech chief Murati launches AI startup, poaching staff from ChatGPT maker

File photo of Mira Murati with OpenAI's Sam Altman

Former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati launched an AI startup called Thinking Machines Lab on Tuesday, with a team of about 30 leading researchers and engineers from competitors including OpenAI, Meta and Mistral.

The latest entrant into the crowded AI startup space wants to build artificial intelligence systems that encode human values and aim at a broader number of applications than rivals, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday.

It shows the ability of Murati, a longtime executive at OpenAI, to poach top researchers from her previous employer.

Roughly two-thirds of the company comprises former OpenAI employees — including Barret Zoph, a prominent researcher who left the ChatGPT maker on the same day as Murati in late September. Zoph will serve as the startup's technology chief.

OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is the startup's chief scientist. Schulman left OpenAI for rival Anthropic in August, saying that he wanted to "focus on AI alignment".

AI alignment refers to a process of encoding human values into AI models to make them safer and more reliable — a key focus for Murati's startup.

More OpenAI employees are expected to join the company, sources told Reuters, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters.

The company has been in talks to raise venture capital funding from investors, Reuters previously reported.

Murati - who will be Thinking Machines Lab CEO - is among a growing list of former OpenAI executives who have launched AI startups. Another two, Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence, have both attracted former OpenAI researchers and raised billions in funding.

Thinking Machines Lab said its approach differentiated from competitors because of its co-design by the research and product teams. It said it would contribute to research on AI alignment by sharing code, datasets, and model specifications.

"While current systems excel at programming and mathematics, we're building AI that can adapt to the full spectrum of human expertise and enable a broader spectrum of applications," the startup said.

Murati joined OpenAI in June 2018, leading the development of ChatGPT and frequently appearing alongside CEO Sam Altman as the firm's public face.

Her abrupt resignation was one of a string of high-profile exits from the company as it underwent governance structure changes.

Prior to OpenAI, she worked at augmented reality startup Leap Motion and at Tesla.