Thinking Machines’ AI Breakdown: How a Leadership Rift Sparked a Talent Exodus to OpenAI and Meta

A $50 billion AI startup’s leadership fracture exposes the human (and ethical) costs of the AI arms race. MiraMurati confronted cofounder Barret Zoph over an alleged relationship with a leadership-position employee from a different department.

Zoph began speaking to competitors after the confrontation, eventually joining OpenAI while still in negotiation with Meta Superintelligence Labs.

OpenAI’s Fidji Simo stated the hiring was pre-arranged and declined to address Thinking Machines’ ethical concerns about Zoph.

Three additional Thinking Machines researchers joined OpenAI this week, and cofounder Andrew Tulloch left for Meta in October. The exodus coincided with reports of internal misalignment about the company’s technical direction, despite a $50B valuation target (up from $12B).

Simo also noted that she did not share Thinking Machines’ concerns over Zoph’s ethics.