| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | February 2025 in San Francisco, California |
| Founder | Mira Murati |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people |
|
| Products | AI systems and platforms |
Number of employees | 100 (2026)[1] |
| Website | thinkingmachines |
Thinking Machines Lab Inc. is an American artificial intelligence (AI) startup founded by Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI.[2] The company was founded in February 2025, and by July had completed an early-stage funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, raising $2 billion at a valuation of $12 billion overall from investors such as Nvidia, AMD, Cisco, and Jane Street.[3] The company is based in San Francisco and structured as a public benefit corporation.[4][5]
History
[edit]By its launch in February 2025, Thinking Machines Lab was reported to have hired about 30 researchers and engineers from competitors including OpenAI, Meta AI, and Mistral AI.[6][7][8][9][10] Its founding team members include Barret Zoph, former OpenAI VP of Research (Post-Training), Lilian Weng, former OpenAI VP, and OpenAI cofounder John Schulman, who joined after a brief stint at the lab's competitor Anthropic.[11][12] Other former OpenAI employees who have been hired include Jonathan Lachman and Andrew Tulloch (although Tulloch departed after getting recruited for Meta Superintelligence Labs).[13][14] Thinking Machines Lab's advisers include Bob McGrew, previously OpenAI's chief research officer, and Alec Radford, who was a lead researcher for OpenAI.[15][16]
On October 1, 2025, it announced Tinker, an API for fine-tuning language models. Users would submit jobs through the API for fine-tuning one of the various open-weight models supported. The Lab would run the jobs on its internal clusters and training infrastructure.[17]
Business structure
[edit]Thinking Machines Lab grants Mira Murati a deciding vote on board matters, weighted to provide her with a majority decision-making capability. Additionally, founding shareholders possess votes weighted 100 times greater than those of regular shareholders.[18]
In July 2025, Andreessen Horowitz was reported to have led the company's initial funding round, raising "about $2 billion at a valuation of $12 billion".[3][19] The government of Albania (Murati's country of origin) was also included in this round, making a $10 million investment which required an amendment to the country's 2025 budget.[20][21]
References
[edit]- ^ Metz, Cade; Huang, Kalley; Isaac, Mike (January 22, 2026). "The A.I. Start-Up Soap Opera Riveting Silicon Valley". The New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (February 18, 2025). "Thinking Machines Lab is ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ a b Hu, Krystal; Soni, Aditya (July 15, 2025). "Mira Murati's AI startup Thinking Machines valued at $12 billion in early-stage funding". Reuters. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
- ^ Bernard, Chris (February 18, 2025). "Sam Altman's Former CTO Launches OpenAI Competitor, Thinking Machine Labs". eWeek. ISSN 1530-6283. Retrieved June 6, 2025.
- ^ Levy, Steven. "Mira Murati Is Ready to Tell the World What She's Working On". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved June 6, 2025.
- ^ Bajwa, Arsheeya; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna (February 19, 2025). "Mira Murati's new AI startup poaches 20 OpenAI researchers". Reuters. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ Eaton, Kit (January 17, 2025). "OpenAI's Ex-CTO Raids Rivals for Top Team at Her Startup". Inc. Archived from the original on January 22, 2025. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
- ^ Palazzolo, Stephanie; Efrati, Amir (January 29, 2025). "OpenAI Tightens Grip on High End of App Market; Murati's Startup Gets a Name [Paywalled]". The Information. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ Schiffer, Zoë. "Mira Murati's AI Startup Makes First Hires, Including Former OpenAI Executive". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (February 18, 2025). "Thinking Machines Lab is ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ^ "OpenAI Co-Founder John Schulman Joins Mira Murati's Startup". The Information. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (August 6, 2024). "OpenAI co-founder Schulman leaves for Anthropic, Brockman takes extended leave". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
- ^ O'Brien, Terrence (October 12, 2025). "Meta poached Thinking Machines Lab co-founder Andrew Tulloch". The Verge. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
- ^ Criddle, Cristina (February 18, 2025). "Former OpenAI technology chief Mira Murati launches rival start-up". Financial Times. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
- ^ Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal (April 11, 2025). "A16z eyes leading mega round in former OpenAI CTO's startup Thinking Machines, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (April 8, 2025). "Mira Murati's AI startup gains prominent ex-OpenAI advisers". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
- ^ Knight, Will (October 1, 2025). "Mira Murati's Stealth AI Lab Launches Its First Product". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
- ^ Palazzolo, Stephanie; Mascarenhas, Natasha. "Thinking Machines Lab CEO Has Unusual Control in Andreessen-Led Deal". The Information. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (April 10, 2025). "Mira Murati's AI startup is reportedly aiming for a massive $2B seed round". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 12, 2025.
- ^ Saliu, Klara (May 1, 2025). "Albania Enters Global AI Market; Government Invests $10 Million in "Machine Thinking Lab" Led by Albanian-American Mira Murati". RTSH English. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- ^ Knight, Will (July 15, 2025). "Thinking Machines Lab Raises a Record $2 Billion, Announces Cofounders". Wired. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
