Thinking Machines Lab
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | February 2025; 9 months ago (2025-02) in San Francisco, California |
| Founder | Mira Murati |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people |
|
| Products | AI systems and platforms |
Number of employees | 50 (2025)[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 already closed on an "outsized early-stage funding round" led by Andreessen Horowitz, raising 2ドル billion at a valuation of 12ドル 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ドル billion at a valuation of 12ドル billion".[3] [19] The government of Albania (Murati's country of origin) was also included in this round, making a 10ドル million investment which required an amendment to the country's 2025 budget.[20] [21]
References
[edit ]- ^ Robison, Kylie. "Meta's AI Recruiting Campaign Finds a New Target". Wired . ISSN 1059-1028 . Retrieved 2025年07月30日.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2025年02月18日). "Thinking Machines Lab is ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025年05月21日.
- ^ a b Hu, Krystal; Soni, Aditya (2025年07月15日). "Mira Murati's AI startup Thinking Machines valued at 12ドル billion in early-stage funding". Reuters. Retrieved 2025年07月15日.
- ^ Bernard, Chris (2025年02月18日). "Sam Altman's Former CTO Launches OpenAI Competitor, Thinking Machine Labs". eWeek . ISSN 1530-6283 . Retrieved 2025年06月06日.
- ^ Levy, Steven. "Mira Murati Is Ready to Tell the World What She's Working On". Wired . ISSN 1059-1028 . Retrieved 2025年06月06日.
- ^ Bajwa, Arsheeya; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna (2025年02月19日). "Mira Murati's new AI startup poaches 20 OpenAI researchers". Reuters. Retrieved 2025年02月19日.
- ^ Eaton, Kit (2025年01月17日). "OpenAI's Ex-CTO Raids Rivals for Top Team at Her Startup". Inc. Archived from the original on 2025年01月22日. Retrieved 2025年01月28日.
- ^ Palazzolo, Stephanie; Efrati, Amir (2025年01月29日). "OpenAI Tightens Grip on High End of App Market; Murati's Startup Gets a Name [Paywalled]". The Information. Retrieved 2025年01月29日.
- ^ Schiffer, Zoë. "Mira Murati's AI Startup Makes First Hires, Including Former OpenAI Executive". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028 . Retrieved 2025年01月28日.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2025年02月18日). "Thinking Machines Lab is ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new startup". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2025年03月23日.
- ^ "OpenAI Co-Founder John Schulman Joins Mira Murati's Startup". The Information. Retrieved 2025年05月21日.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2024年08月06日). "OpenAI co-founder Schulman leaves for Anthropic, Brockman takes extended leave". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2025年05月27日.
- ^ O'Brien, Terrence (2025年10月12日). "Meta poached Thinking Machines Lab co-founder Andrew Tulloch". The Verge. Retrieved 2025年10月16日.
- ^ Criddle, Cristina (2025年02月18日). "Former OpenAI technology chief Mira Murati launches rival start-up". Financial Times . Retrieved 2025年05月28日.
- ^ Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal; Tong, Anna; Hu, Krystal (2025年04月11日). "A16z eyes leading mega round in former OpenAI CTO's startup Thinking Machines, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved 2025年05月21日.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2025年04月08日). "Mira Murati's AI startup gains prominent ex-OpenAI advisers". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025年05月30日.
- ^ "Announcing Tinker". Thinking Machines Lab. Oct 1, 2025. Retrieved 2025年10月02日.
- ^ Palazzolo, Stephanie; Mascarenhas, Natasha. "Thinking Machines Lab CEO Has Unusual Control in Andreessen-Led Deal". The Information. Retrieved 2025年05月21日.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2025年04月10日). "Mira Murati's AI startup is reportedly aiming for a massive 2ドルB seed round". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025年04月12日.
- ^ Saliu, Klara (2025年05月01日). "Albania Enters Global AI Market; Government Invests 10ドル Million in "Machine Thinking Lab" Led by Albanian-American Mira Murati". RTSH English . Retrieved 2025年05月21日.
- ^ Knight, Will (2025年07月15日). "Thinking Machines Lab Raises a Record 2ドル Billion, Announces Cofounders". Wired. Retrieved 2025年07月16日.
External links
[edit ]- Artificial intelligence companies
- Artificial intelligence organizations
- AI software
- AI safety
- Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Artificial intelligence laboratories
- 2025 establishments in California
- American companies established in 2025
- Companies based in San Francisco
- Public benefit corporations based in California
- Privately held companies based in California