Last week, Mira Murati, who was formerly the Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI, launched her new startup called Thinking Machine Labs. The startup aims to raise $1 billion in funding and is reportedly targeting a valuation of around $9 billion. This funding round is ongoing, and details might still change. Murati’s team has chosen not to comment on the specifics of the funding situation.
Typically, a $9 billion valuation is quite high for a startup that is under a year old. However, there’s been a strong interest from investors in supporting artificial intelligence (AI) companies, particularly those that come from backgrounds at OpenAI.
Murati spent more than six years at OpenAI, where she was instrumental in the development of ChatGPT and engaged in a variety of AI research projects. In November 2023, she briefly took on the role of interim CEO after OpenAI’s board made headlines by unexpectedly firing Sam Altman. However, after Altman was reinstated as CEO, Murati returned to her position as CTO.
There has been considerable speculation in Silicon Valley about what she would do after leaving OpenAI last year. Until recently, details of her plans remained scarce until Thinking Machine Labs was publicly introduced last week.
In a blog post, Murati described the mission of her startup as one focused on AI research and product development aimed at making AI technology more accessible to everyone. She noted that the goal of Thinking Machine Labs is to enhance understanding and customization of AI systems, making them generally more capable.
To achieve her vision, Murati has brought together a talented group of engineers and researchers from OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic. Some of her former colleagues, like John Schulman—who helped create ChatGPT—Jonathan Lachman, Barret Zoph, and Alexander Kirillov, have joined her at Thinking Machine Labs.
Murati is one of several former executives from OpenAI who have founded their own companies. Another notable example is Ilya Sutskever, who left OpenAI in May 2024 to start a new company called Safe Superintelligence Inc. Dario and Daniela Amodei, who were also at OpenAI, went on to establish Anthropic in 2021.
With a strong team backing her and the growing interest in AI innovations, Murati’s Thinking Machine Labs appears poised to make a significant impact in the field of artificial intelligence. While it is ambitious to target such a high valuation so early in its lifespan, the current trend in the tech industry suggests that there is likely to be substantial investor interest for a venture that promises to advance AI accessibility and usability.