Thinking Machines

Former OpenAI employees found AI start-up

Mira Murati(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Kimberly White)

The former head of technology at OpenAI, Mira Murati, has recruited around 30 leading researchers from the industry for her new AI start-up Thinking Machines. Around two thirds of them come from the ChatGPT developer, according to a blog post on Tuesday on the first public appearance of the "research and product company".

The company not only wants to focus on autonomous AI systems, but also on collaboration between artificial intelligence and humans. The aim is to share scientific findings.

"Scientific progress is a collective effort," it says. "We believe that we can most effectively advance humanity's understanding of AI by working with the wider community of researchers and developers."

Abrupt departure
Murati joined OpenAI in June 2018 and frequently appeared alongside CEO Sam Altman. She left the company abruptly when it became a profit-oriented company last September.

The news agency Reuters reported in October that Murati was raising venture capital for her own AI start-up. On the same day as Murati, Barret Zoph, a researcher who is now Head of Technology at Thinking Machines, also resigned.

The chief scientist is reportedly John Schulman, one of the co-founders of OpenAI. He left the company in August and initially joined rival Anthropic, which publishes the Claude models. Other employees came from Meta and Mistral, it was also reported.