Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati Launches Thinking Machines Lab

Thinking Machines Lab: The Billion-Dollar AI Startup from a Former OpenAI CTO

The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is in constant motion. A new player that has caused a stir in recent months is Thinking Machines Lab. Founded by Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, the startup has already reached an estimated value of at least 10 billion US dollars, attracting the attention of investors and experts alike.

Record-Breaking Funding and High-Profile Experts

According to reports, Thinking Machines Lab is seeking seed funding of 2 billion US dollars. If this amount is actually reached, it would represent a new record for seed funding in the AI field. The enormous valuation of the startup underscores the great confidence investors have in the potential of Thinking Machines Lab and its team.

This confidence is based not least on the team's expertise. In addition to Mira Murati, numerous other leading AI researchers and engineers have been recruited for the project. A large part of the workforce, currently comprising about 30 employees, consists of former OpenAI employees. Among the most prominent new additions are OpenAI co-founder John Schulman as Chief Scientist, the former head of special projects Jonathan Lachman, and the former Vice President Barret Zoph as CTO. Furthermore, the startup has brought experts from renowned companies such as Google, Meta, Mistral, and Character AI on board. Most recently, Bob McGrew, former Chief Research Officer of OpenAI, and Alec Radford, a former OpenAI researcher who was instrumental in the development of GPT, joined the team as advisors.

Transparency and Accessibility as Guiding Principles

Thinking Machines Lab aims to make AI systems more transparent and accessible. In a blog post, the company emphasized its belief in open collaboration and announced that it would publish technical blog posts, scientific publications, and code. This focus on transparency and open source could be a key differentiating factor compared to other AI companies.

A New Trend: Ex-OpenAI Managers Founding Their Own AI Startups

The founding of Thinking Machines Lab is part of a growing trend: More and more former OpenAI executives are venturing into self-employment and founding their own AI startups. Another example of this is Safe Superintelligence (SSI), founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. SSI is reportedly close to completing a financing round of over one billion US dollars, which would value the company at more than 30 billion US dollars.

Future Prospects

Although Thinking Machines Lab is still a young company, it has already caused quite a stir. The combination of experienced experts, an ambitious vision, and record-breaking funding makes the startup a promising player in the dynamic AI market. It remains to be seen which specific products and services Thinking Machines Lab will develop in the future and how the company will position itself in the competition. Developments surrounding Thinking Machines Lab are eagerly awaited.