OpenAI’s Ex-Chief Research Officer Joins Mira Murati’s AI Startup

OpenAI’s former chief research officer has joined Mira Murati’s AI startup, Business Insider has learned.

Bob McGrew was quietly added to Thinking Machines Lab’s website as an advisor, alongside former OpenAI researcher Alec Radford.

The exact timing of when McGrew joined Thinking Machines Lab as an advisor is unclear, but a webpage archived on the Wayback Machine shows McGrew was mentioned on the company’s site for the first time last month.

McGrew joins a growing list of former OpenAI staffers who have taken up roles at Murati’s new company. Thinking Machines Lab lists 38 people on its website that make up its founding team.

An analysis of their backgrounds by BI found that exactly half — 19 members — previously worked at OpenAI. Murati tapped OpenAI cofounder John Schulman as chief scientist, while the chief technology officer is Barret Zoph, a co-creator of ChatGPT.

Murati’s startup emerged from stealth in February when she unveiled it to the world in an X post, stating that its goal is to “advance AI by making it broadly useful and understandable through solid foundations, open science, and practical applications.” BI reported in February that the startup was aiming to raise $1 billion at a roughly $9 billion valuation.

McGrew announced his departure from OpenAI in an X post last September, a day after Murati said she was leaving, noting that he shared the same message internally at the time. He described his eight years at the company as an “awe-inspiring journey,” and said it was time for him to take a break after he supported the research team’s transition over the following two months.

Thinking Machines Lab, McGrew, and Radford didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

McGrew and Radford joining Thinking Machines Lab was first reported by TechCrunch.