Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati Announces Launch of Thinking Machines Lab

Former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati said Tuesday (Feb. 18) that she and a team of scientists, engineers and builders started a company called Thinking Machines Lab.

The new company will help people adapt artificial intelligence (AI) systems to meet their specific needs, develop foundations to build more capable AI systems, and foster a culture of open science aimed at helping the whole field understand and improve AI systems, Murati said in a Tuesday post on X.

“Our goal is simple, advance AI by making it broadly useful and understandable through solid foundations, open science and practical applications,” Murati said.

The Thinking Machines Lab website described the company as an AI research and product company focused on making AI systems more widely understood, customizable and capable.

Its current team includes members who have created widely used AI products, open-weights models and open source projects, according to the site.

The company aims to focus on human-AI collaboration and AI systems that are more flexible, adaptable and personalized, per the site.

“We see enormous potential for AI to help in every field of work,” the site said. “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.”

Murati said in September that she was leaving OpenAI after 6½ years to explore other things.

“I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration,” she wrote in a Sept. 25 post on X. “For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we’ve built.”

Murati served as interim CEO of OpenAI for a time in November 2023 when OpenAI Co-Founder and CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted from the company by its board.

When announcing her appointment as interim CEO, the company said: “[Murati] brings a unique skill set, understanding of the company’s values, operations and business, and already leads the company’s research, product and safety functions.”

Murati played a crucial role in launching products like ChatGPT and DALL-E, PYMNTS reported in October.