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 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 Barret Zoph.[13] Thinking Machines Lab's advisers include Bob McGrew, previously OpenAI's chief research officer, and Alec Radford, who was a lead researcher for OpenAI.[14][15]
Business structure
Thinking Machines Lab follows 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.[16]
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][17] 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.[18][19]
