OpenAI hires Thinking Machines co-founders amid AI talent wars
OpenAI just brought back Barret Zoph and Luke Metz, two of the co-founders of Thinking Machines Lab.
The news dropped via OpenAI's CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, right after Mira Murati confirmed Zoph's departure from Thinking Machines and named Soumith Chintala as their new CTO.
Why does this matter?
Zoph and Metz both have deep roots at OpenAI—Zoph previously worked for OpenAI as VP of Research and before that spent six years at Google as a research scientist, and Metz worked as an AI researcher—so they're not exactly strangers.
Their return highlights how intense the competition is for top AI minds right now.
Even with a massive $2 billion in funding last year, Thinking Machines has been losing key people to rivals like Meta and OpenAI.
As one former employee put it, "insane packages" are making these moves hard to resist.
What's next for Thinking Machines?
With Chintala stepping in as CTO, the company is hoping to steady the ship and stay competitive in this fast-moving field—even if keeping top talent is proving tougher than expected.