Thinking Machines Lab
TL;DR Thinking Machines Lab, founded in 2025 by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, quickly emerged as an AI powerhouse committed to open science, customizable AI, and rapid innovation, securing a historic multi-billion-dollar seed round and attracting top talent from across the sector.
Thinking Machines Lab is an American artificial intelligence research and product company established in February 2025 by Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, along with a team of veteran AI researchers from organizations such as OpenAI, DeepMind, Meta AI, and Mistral. Headquartered in San Francisco and structured as a public benefit corporation, the company aims to build AI that is more understandable, customizable, and accessible, advancing both the science and real-world impact of artificial intelligence.
Thinking Machines Lab’s mission is to democratize AI by accelerating open-science research, publishing code and papers, and fostering global collaboration. Within months of its founding, the company assembled a world-class team. It closed a $2 billion seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, reaching a $12 billion valuation, one of the largest in venture history, backed by leading investors like Nvidia, AMD, Cisco, Jane Street, and even the government of Albania. Key advisers and founding engineers include many notable ex-OpenAI leaders, such as Barret Zoph, Lilian Weng, and John Schulman, and early departures are quickly replaced by top-tier new hires. The company emphasizes customizable model infrastructure, user-aligned AI tools, and frequently releases open-source research, driving innovation in AI explainability, safety, and scalable deployment.
Founded by Mira Murati and elite researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, Meta, and Mistral in February 2025.
Closed a landmark $2 billion seed round at a $12 billion valuation within months of launch, setting a venture capital record.
Built a team of ~30 top-tier engineers and scientists, recruiting leaders in AI safety, large models, and open infrastructure.
Released Tinker, an API for efficient custom model fine-tuning on internal infrastructure, supporting open-weight models for broad research and enterprise use.
Founder Mira Murati was granted decisive voting rights on the board to ensure focused mission leadership and long-term stability.
Attracted notable investments from global partners, including the Albanian government, engaging international stakeholders in high-impact AI development.
Committed to open science by publishing technical blog posts, papers, and code to foster collaboration and transparency throughout the industry.
Rapidly became recognized for having the highest concentration of elite AI talent per employee among AI startups, establishing itself as a major new force in customizable, safe AI.
