Inside OpenAI’s Raid on Thinking Machines Lab
- lastmansurfing
- Jan 22
- 1 min read
If someone ever makes an HBO Max series about the AI industry, the events of this week will make quite the episode.
On Wednesday, OpenAI’s CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, announced the company had rehired Barret Zoph and Luke Metz, cofounders of Mira Murati’s AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab. Zoph and Metz had left OpenAI in late 2024.
We reported last night on two narratives forming around what led to the departures, and have since learned new information.
A source with direct knowledge says that Thinking Machines leadership believed Zoph engaged in an incident of serious misconduct while at the company last year. That incident broke Murati’s trust, the source says, and disrupted the pair’s working relationship.
The source also alleged Murati fired Zoph on Wednesday—before knowing he was going to OpenAI—due to what the company claimed were issues that arose after the alleged misconduct.
Read the full story | WIRED