Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, is quietly building a powerhouse team at her new AI venture, Thinking Machines Lab. Two more prominent names have recently joined her advisory circle: Bob McGrew, OpenAI’s former chief research officer, and Alec Radford. A key figure behind many of OpenAI’s most groundbreaking innovations.
Though the company hasn’t made a formal announcement. The Thinking Machines Lab website was discreetly updated in March to reflect McGrew and Radford’s involvement. A company spokesperson hasn’t commented on the additions yet.
McGrew, who joined OpenAI back in 2017, rose quickly through the ranks. He became vice president of research in 2018 and later served as chief research officer. He left OpenAI in September 2024, noting that he needed time off to “take a break.” Radford. Meanwhile, departed late last year to pursue independent research after nearly a decade with OpenAI. His impact on the AI field is widely recognized—he was the lead author on the original research paper introducing generative pre-trained transformers (GPT), the foundational technology behind ChatGPT. He also contributed to other major models, including Whisper and DALL-E.
Murati’s startup has stayed tight-lipped about its full agenda. But earlier this year, Thinking Machines Lab hinted at big ambitions. The company said it plans to develop tools that help people tailor AI to their individual needs—offering systems that are more transparent, adaptable, and capable than anything available today.
The leadership team already boasts deep experience in AI development. Murati serves as CEO, bringing years of hands-on work from her time leading OpenAI’s applied AI efforts. She played a central role in launching ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Codex, which was instrumental in building GitHub’s early Copilot product. Her departure from OpenAI in October 2024 marked the end of a six-year journey at the company, where she climbed from VP to CTO.
Alongside her, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is now chief scientist at Thinking Machines Lab. Barret Zoph, formerly responsible for model post-training at OpenAI, is serving as CTO.
Though still in its early stages, Thinking Machines Lab is attracting serious attention across the tech and investor worlds. Earlier reports suggested Murati was in discussions to raise over $100 million in funding, with backing from unnamed VC firms. The company has also reportedly drawn in dozens of engineers and researchers from elite AI institutions, including OpenAI and Google DeepMind.
In an increasingly competitive AI startup landscape, Murati’s team appears to be taking a long-term approach—focusing not just on building powerful AI, but on making it more human-centered, customizable, and better understood.
