Barret Zoph fired from $12B AI startup Thinking Machines as internal turmoil triggers exodus to OpenAI

The AI startup soap opera riveting Silicon Valley

Thinking Machines, the AI startup cofounded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has faced internal turmoil as top executives Zoph, Metz and Schoenholz left for OpenAI amid disagreements over strategy and funding. Meta also apparently lured some other staff with offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The startup, valued at $12 billion, continues independently under Murati. On January 12, Mira Murati, the CEO and cofounder of the artificial intelligence startup Thinking Machines Lab, was asked by Sam Schoenholz, a leading researcher at the company, to join a meeting. Murati sat down with Schoenholz and two other founders, Barret Zoph and Luke Metz. All four had worked together at OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker, where Murati had been the chief technology officer, before the creation of Thinking Machines in February. But in less than a year, Zoph, Metz and Schoenholz had become deeply unhappy with the startup's direction. Thinking Machines lagged behind OpenAI and other rivals in releasing products and was struggling to raise new funding at an eye-popping $50 billion valuation. The men had urged Murati to strike a deal -- Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, had discussed buying Thinking Machines, and Murati had developed closer ties with the CEO of Anthropic, a leading AI company -- but no transaction had resulted. At the meeting, the men lobbied for Zoph, Thinking Machines' chief technology officer, to oversee decisions about the company's technical direction. They threatened to leave if changes were not made, four people with knowledge of the discussion said. Murati balked. She told Zoph that he was already the chief technology officer and should just do his job. Two days later, Murati, 37, fired Zoph, 32, who had been talking behind her back since October with OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, about returning to the company. OpenAI immediately rehired Zoph, along with Metz and Schoenholz. Another nine or so of Thinking Machines' roughly 100 employees have decamped to OpenAI or have received offers to join the company, three people with knowledge of the situation said. Meta has also made offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars to some of the startup's employees, two people said. The defections have set off furious mudslinging as each side has cranked up its spin machine to portray its version of the story. A relationship that Zoph had with a Thinking Machines employee became public, and Murati -- who posted a public message about having "parted ways" with Zoph -- has faced questions over her reasons for firing him and the state of the company. The turmoil at Thinking Machines, one of the highest-profile AI startups, is the latest episode in the perpetual soap opera that is the AI industry, where young billionaires clash over professional and personal relationships as they vie for money, power and supremacy in the field. Occasionally, the drama spills into public view, riveting Silicon Valley. "I am reminded of this line from 'Anna Karenina': 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,'" said Venky Ganesan, a partner at the investment firm Menlo Ventures. "Happy companies require many things to go right simultaneously. You only need one or two things to go wrong to have an unhappy company." Wired and The Wall Street Journal earlier reported some details of the exits of Zoph, Metz and Schoenholz from Thinking Machines. The AI industry, a relatively small world of technology specialists and wealthy executives and investors, has long dealt with internecine feuds. Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, clashed with Altman over the company's direction in 2018 and left. Musk has since sued Altman and OpenAI, accusing them of breaching the company's founding contract by putting commercial interests ahead of the public good. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems. The two companies have denied the suit's claims.) In 2023, several OpenAI board members ousted Altman, saying they did not trust him to build AI for the benefit of humanity. Murati played a part in Altman's firing and briefly took over as OpenAI's CEO. When Altman and other powerful Silicon Valley figures resolved to reinstate him, Murati came out in support of him. She stayed at OpenAI for another year before leaving to start Thinking Machines with Zoph, Metz and others, including Andrew Tulloch, a former OpenAI researcher. Her timing was fortuitous. The AI industry was booming, and Murati had the name recognition in tech circles to gather funding for a new venture. Thinking Machines amassed $2 billion from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, chipmakers Nvidia and AMD, and others. The financing, announced in July, valued Thinking Machines at $12 billion, though it had not released a product and Murati was tight-lipped about what the startup would produce. In a social media post at the time, she said the startup "exists to empower humanity." The company opened an office in San Francisco's Mission District, a few blocks from OpenAI's headquarters, and spared no expense on interior decorating. The in-house gym included squat racks for weightlifting, with iron barbells branded with "Thinking Machines" in bold white typeface. Last summer, Zoph approached Murati about his relationship with a colleague who was not an AI researcher and who eventually left the company, three people familiar with the matter said. Zoph continued in his role. Around then, Meta executives reached out to Murati about potentially buying Thinking Machines, five people with knowledge of the conversations said. Zoph wanted to sell, but Murati preferred to remain independent and viewed the discussions with Meta as not serious. In October, Thinking Machines released a product that helps developers adjust AI models to better perform specific tasks. Offered to businesses and software developers over the internet, the product was similar to technologies from Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Tulloch also pushed Murati to sell Thinking Machines, two people familiar with the matter said. No deal materialized, and he left for Meta, which was heavily recruiting AI talent. The talks between Meta and Thinking Machines were reported earlier by The Verge. In the ensuing months, Thinking Machines struggled to raise new funding, for which it was seeking a valuation of $50 billion. Some of its investors have privately worried about whether the startup has a path forward as an independent company, two people familiar with the discussions said. Murati also developed closer ties with Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, who had also previously worked at OpenAI, five people said. While Murati and Amodei had clashed when they were at OpenAI, they are now in regular communication and have discussed their two companies and the AI industry. Murati has long been friends with Amodei's wife. For now, Murati appears to be content with Thinking Machines going it alone as an independent company. On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that a new leader would take over selling AI services to businesses, according to internal communications relayed to the Times. The appointment, reported earlier by The Information, is a key position for overseeing an important area for future revenue growth.

Co-founder of $12B AI startup fired after boss learns about office...

A co-founder of a Silicon Valley AI startup valued at $12 billion was fired after months of internal turmoil that reportedly began with an undisclosed workplace relationship and later escalated into disputes over leadership and control. Barret Zoph, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Thinking Machines Lab, was dismissed last Wednesday following a contentious meeting with CEO Mira Murati after she had raised concerns about his conduct, trust and performance, according to The Wall Street Journal. Zoph reportedly admitted to Murati that he had a romantic relationship with a junior colleague that began while they were both working for their previous employer, OpenAI. Murati had suspected the relationship as early as last summer, The Journal reported. Zoph initially denied the relationship, according to the article. But weeks later, he and the woman reportedly acknowledged the relationship to Murati. Shortfly after the disclosure, she left the company and returned to OpenAI. While the woman was junior to Zoph, she did not report to him, The Journal said. Zoph told the newspaper that he was fired after Murati learned that he was negotiating with another company about a role. "Thinking Machines Lab terminated my employment only after it learned I would be leaving the company. Full stop," he told The Journal. "At no time did TML cite to me any performance reasons or any unethical conduct on my part as the reason for my termination and any suggestion otherwise is false and defamatory." Like the woman he with whom he reportedly had a relationship, Zoph went back to OpenAI. She was not named in the article. The relationship fallout later gave way to deeper disputes over leadership and authority. According to The Journal, Zoph and two colleagues confronted Murati in a meeting earlier this month, saying they disagreed with the company's direction and pushing for Zoph to be given greater control over technical decision-making -- including having senior executives report to him instead of Murati. Murati pushed back, citing concerns about Zoph's productivity over previous months, The Journal reported. Executives had observed a sharp drop in his engagement after he was stripped of managerial duties, including significantly reduced activity on Slack, the company's main way of communicating internally. Thinking Machines Labs co-founder Luke Metz and founding researcher Sam Schoenholz also left the company and returned to OpenAI, according to The Journal. In October, another co-founder, Andrew Tulloch, left the startup to return to Meta Platforms. Thinking Machines Lab was founded last year by Murati and a group of former OpenAI executives and researchers. It quickly became one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched AI startups. The company raised a record-breaking $2 billion seed round at a $12 billion valuation, pitching investors on its ambition to build more customizable and transparent artificial-intelligence systems. But the departures have left the startup with just three of its original six founders less than a year after launch, underscoring the intense competition for elite AI talent and the fragility of even the best-funded newcomers. Murati, who briefly held the title of interim CEO of OpenAI following the short-lived ouster of Sam Altman, did not answer repeated requests for comment from The Journal. OpenAI declined to comment on the hires to the publication.

Co-founder of $12B AI startup Thinking Machines fired after workplace relationship surfaced

Barret Zoph, co-founder and chief technology officer of Thinking Machines Lab, was dismissed after CEO Mira Murati raised concerns about his performance and an undisclosed relationship with a junior colleague. According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, Zoph was dismissed on Jan. 14 following a meeting with Murati. During that meeting, Zoph reportedly admitted to Murati that he had a romantic relationship with a junior colleague that began while both were working at OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. Shortly after the disclosure, the woman left Thinking Machines and returned to OpenAI. Zoph and two others also advocated during the meeting for him to have more decision-making power, prompting Murati to question why he had not been fulfilling his responsibilities in recent months. Murati had expressed concerns about Zoph's productivity in recent months after discovering last summer that he was dating a junior colleague who did not report to him. Murati, a former OpenAI CTO, told staff on Jan 14. that Thinking Machines had terminated Zoph's employment due to "unethical conduct," according to Fortune. Zoph told the Wall Street Journal that he was fired after Murati learned he was negotiating with another company and said Thinking Machines never cited performance issues to him. "At no time did [Thinking Machines Lab] cite to me any performance reasons or any unethical conduct on my part as the reason for my termination and any suggestion otherwise is false and defamatory," he said. OpenAI's chief executive of applications, Fidji Simo, said Zoph's hiring had been in the works for weeks and added that she did not share Thinking Machines' concerns about his ethics. Founded in 2025 by Murati and a group of former OpenAI executives and researchers, Thinking Machines Lab quickly became one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched AI startups. The company raised about $2 billion in July in a record-setting seed funding round that valued it at roughly $12 billion. Bloomberg reported that the company was in talks to raise additional funding at a valuation of up to $50 billion. Despite the fundraising success, the startup has struggled to retain talent. Andrew Tulloch, considered one of the lab's co-founders, left late last year to join Meta's AI efforts. Last week, Simo announced on X that Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz were returning to OpenAI. Two additional Thinking Machines researchers, Lia Guy and Ian O'Connell, also departed, with Guy joining OpenAI.