Mira Murati’s AI Startup Attracts Notable Former OpenAI Advisors
New Developments at Thinking Machines Lab
Key Advisors Join the Team
Thinking Machines Lab, a new company founded by Mira Murati, who previously served as the CTO of OpenAI, has recently brought on board two prestigious advisors: Bob McGrew and Alec Radford. McGrew was the chief research officer at OpenAI, while Radford played a significant role in developing transformative technologies at the same organization. Their addition is expected to enhance the lab’s capacity to innovate in artificial intelligence.
Background of the Advisors
Bob McGrew started his journey with OpenAI back in 2017. He first joined the team as part of the technical staff and quickly climbed the ranks, becoming VP of Research in 2018 and then chief research officer. He left OpenAI in September 2024, taking a break to focus on new opportunities.
Alec Radford had a noteworthy tenure at OpenAI, leaving in late 2023 to focus on independent research after nearly ten years with the organization. He was one of the lead authors behind OpenAI’s crucial research on generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), the technology that supports popular products like ChatGPT. Additionally, Radford was involved in developing several models within the GPT series, as well as contributing to Whisper, a speech recognition system, and DALL-E, the company’s innovative image-generating model.
Thinking Machines Lab’s Mission
Although Thinking Machines Lab has not disclosed specific details about its research plans or products, it did publicly announce its mission in February. The lab aims to create tools that will make artificial intelligence accessible and useful for individual needs and goals. The focus is on developing AI systems that are customizable, well-understood, and generally more capable than current offerings in the market.
Leadership at Thinking Machines Lab
Murati leads the lab as CEO, bringing her wealth of knowledge and experience to the forefront. She was formerly OpenAI’s VP of Applied AI and Partnerships before attaining the role of CTO in 2022. During her time at OpenAI, she was instrumental in the development of ChatGPT, the DALL-E image generator, and the Codex system that laid the groundwork for GitHub’s Copilot programming assistant.
John Schulman, a co-founder of OpenAI, is serving as the chief scientist at Thinking Machines Lab. Barret Zoph, who previously led model post-training efforts at OpenAI, is the company’s chief technology officer.
Funding Aspirations
There were reports that Murati was in discussions to raise over $100 million from various venture capital firms for Thinking Machines Lab. This potential funding would position the lab for substantial growth, enabling it to attract top talent and resources. The company boasts a diverse team of employees sourced from leading AI research organizations, including OpenAI and Google DeepMind.
Importance of the New Advisors
The addition of experienced figures like McGrew and Radford is significant for Thinking Machines Lab. Their backgrounds in handling advanced AI research and development will undoubtedly influence the new company’s approach to innovation. With such expertise on board, there is high potential for the lab to create products that could redefine interactions with artificial intelligence technology in everyday life.
As the lab continues to evolve, the anticipation around its capabilities and offerings grows, promising potentially groundbreaking advancements in the AI space.
