In a significant leap for the AI world, former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has announced that her new venture, Thinking Machines Lab, has successfully secured a massive $2 billion in fresh funding. The news marks Murati’s official return to the spotlight after her notable tenure at OpenAI, where she briefly served as interim CEO during the company’s high-profile leadership shakeup in 2023.
Murati, who left OpenAI in September 2024, launched Thinking Machines earlier this year with a vision to create AI that aligns more closely with natural human interaction — through conversation, sight, and multimodal capabilities. She posted on X, saying, “We think AI should help people make their own choices.” She also added that this technology should be shared fairly with everyone, so that all people can benefit from it.
The funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with big names like Nvidia, AMD, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, and Jane Street also joining in. This strong group of investor shows they have a lot of trust in Murati’s ideas and leadership.
While details about the company’s upcoming product are still under wraps, Murati confirmed that the first offering will be unveiled “in the next couple of months.” Importantly, it will include an open-source component aimed at supporting researchers and fellow startups — a move that echoes her commitment to transparency and scientific collaboration.
With her new AI startup, Mira Murati is clearly not just building tools — she is aiming to redefine how AI serves society.
