Thinking Machines Lab co-founder leaves to join Meta
What's the story
Andrew Tulloch, the co-founder of AI start-up Thinking Machines Lab, has left the company to join Meta Platforms. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday. A spokesperson for Thinking Machines Lab confirmed Tulloch's departure to the WSJ, saying, "Andrew has decided to pursue a different path for personal reasons."
Career path
Tulloch's background and Thinking Machines Lab's mission
Tulloch has previously worked with OpenAI and Facebook's AI Research Group. The company, founded in February 2025 by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is on a mission to create general-purpose, accessible, and ethical AI systems. It now employs around 30 engineers and researchers, two-thirds of whom are former OpenAI employees.
Recruitment tactics
Mark Zuckerberg's previous acquisition attempts
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously tried to acquire Thinking Machines Lab but was unsuccessful. Following that, he attempted to recruit Tulloch with a compensation package worth up to $1.5 billion over at least six years, the WSJ reported, though Meta disputed the accuracy of this claim. This is part of Meta's aggressive strategy to hire top talent from competitors in a bid to catch up in advanced AI development.
Expansion
Funding and future plans for Thinking Machines Lab
Thinking Machines Lab has also hired talent from Meta and French start-up Mistral to create a next-gen AI platform for better human-AI collaboration. The start-up recently raised about $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants included AI chip giant NVIDIA, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Street.