Mira Murati’s $2 Billion AI Revolution: The Bold Quest to Build Humanity’s Next-Gen Thinking Machines

Mira Murati, former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, has emerged in 2025 as a key visionary in AI with the founding of her startup, Thinking Machines Lab, launched in February 2025 as a public benefit corporation based in San Francisco126. The company has rapidly positioned itself as a formidable challenger in the AI space, with heavy backing and a mission to develop more transparent, customizable, and generally capable AI systems that better align with human values and collaboration167.

The startup employs around 30 elite researchers and engineers recruited from top competitors such as OpenAI, Meta AI, and Mistral AI126. Notably, OpenAI cofounder John Schulman serves as Chief Scientist, with other former OpenAI heavyweights like Jonathan Lachman, Barret Zoph (CTO), Bob McGrew, and Alec Radford advising the company or on staff126. The team is building multimodal AI models designed for collaborative interaction with users and adaptable to a wide range of expertise and applications, particularly targeting high-impact domains like science and programming to spur breakthroughs6.

Thinking Machines Lab’s governance grants Murati a decisive vote on board matters, consolidating her leadership role, while founding shareholders hold votes weighted 100 times greater than regular shareholders12. The startup secured a historic $2 billion seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz in April 2025, valuing the company at around $10 to $12 billion123. This round attracted diverse investors, including the government of Albania, reflecting Murati’s Albanian heritage, which made a $10 million investment requiring a special amendment to the national budget12. Strategic investors like Nvidia, AMD, Cisco, and Jane Street also back the startup, signaling confidence in the vision and potential of Murati’s enterprise3.

Murati’s journey to this point underscores her stature as a transformative figure in AI. Born in Vlorë, Albania, in 1988, she studied engineering at Dartmouth College and earned dual degrees including one from Colby College. Before joining OpenAI in 2018, she worked at Tesla (helping develop the Model X) and Leap Motion (focused on augmented reality technologies)356. At OpenAI, she helped develop breakthrough products such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Sora, and served as CTO from 2022 until her departure in 2024 during a wave of leadership changes35. She was recognized by Fortune and Time as one of the most powerful and influential women in business and AI, and received an honorary Doctor of Science from Dartmouth for democratizing technology and advancing safer AI2.

Her vision for Thinking Machines Lab emphasizes ethical AI development, open research, and AI that enhances human capabilities rather than replaces them567. The startup aims to address critical gaps in scientific understanding of AI systems, making it easier for people to customize AI tools to their unique needs and values—reflecting Murati’s commitment to responsible innovation and wider accessibility in frontier AI research6. The company's approach contrasts with the secrecy surrounding some AI development, instead fostering collaboration and open-source components to broaden the ecosystem3.

In summary, Mira Murati’s latest and most significant venture is Thinking Machines Lab, which has already attracted exceptional talent and record-setting seed investment to develop next-generation, human-centric AI systems rooted in transparency, adaptability, and societal benefit. This bold leap positions her as a central figure in shaping AI’s future beyond her impactful tenure at OpenAI123567.