Discussion

• @miramurati Mira Murati on x

  We have parted ways with Barret Zoph.  Soumith Chintala will be the new CTO of Thinking Machines.  He is a brilliant and seasoned leader who has made important contributions to the AI field for over a decade, and he's been a major contributor to our team.  We could not be more ex…

• @kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x

  “Zoph told Thinking Machines CEO Mira Murati on Monday he was considering leaving, then was fired today, according to the memo from Simo. She goes on to write that OpenAI doesn't share the same concerns about Zoph as Murati.” the drama here is unreal

• @_arohan_ Rohan Anil on x

  Tweet possibly damaging a great scientist, <person responsible for bringing first ever AI product that rewrote the game> reputation over hearsay from “sources” is where the field has come to. I really dislike this. Everything about this tells me this is a mess of a field.

• @tszzl Roon on x

  before cognitive restructuring: important people are leaving after cognitive restructuring: they're being fired for unethical conduct

• @miles_brundage Miles Brundage on x

  This must go so hard (/painfully) if you're The Information https://x.com/...

• @benjamindekr Benjamin De Kraker on x

  Mira Murati (former OpenAI CEO) : Fires Barret Zoph for “unethical conduct” An hour later, OpenAI : “Welcome Barret Zoph, great to have you back!” Ummmm was... was he a spy? What is going on [image]

• @alexeheath Alex Heath on x

  AI labs are nothing without their people

• @daniel_mac8 Dan McAteer on x

  Was Barret Zoph fired or did he quit? [image]

• @suchenzang Susan Zhang on x

  feels like the type of character assassination leak you put out when you find out one of your cofounders might be splitting off (with another)

• @paularambles @paularambles on x

  sinking machines

• @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on bluesky

  Thinking Machines broke records with the largest seed round in history at $2B.  It's now breaking a new record as the first startup to lose two co-founders because they asked for their old jobs back at OpenAI.  —  While most of tech worries about layoffs, top AI researchers are f…

• @shaneguml Shane Gu on x

  Maybe the true AGI is the friends you made during your Google Brain residency (so you can keep joining OpenAI)

• @yuchenj_uw Yuchen Jin on x

  2 co-founders of Thinking Machines (Barret & Luke) left and rejoined OpenAI. What happened?? AI labs have more drama than K-dramas... [image]

• @ns123abc Nik on x

  🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: OPENAI JUST POACHED 3 RESEARCHERS BACK FROM THINKING MACHINES Barret Zoph > VP of Research (Post-Training) at OAI > Co-Founder & CTO at @thinkymachines Luke Metz and Sam Schoenholz > OpenAI Research Scientist > Member of technician staff at TML [image]

• @barret_zoph Barret Zoph on x

  Super excited to join the team!

• @signulll @signulll on x

  uh, so like thinking machines completely imploded today? someone dm me the tea plz. there is more drama in ai than in the desperate housewives of silicon valley.

• @miyahedge Miya on x

  @fidjissimo “Barret will report to me; Luke and Sam will report into Barret.” is the most status-coded way possible to announce this lmfao

• @petergostev Peter Gostev on x

  That's quite a coup - all three went to the @thinkymachines - Barret Zoph - left OpenAI in September 2024 to become the CTO (!) of the Thinking Machines - Luke Metz - left in Oct 2024 & was a co-founder (!) of the Thinking Machines - Sam Schoenholz - left in Feb 2025

• @joannejang Joanne Jang on x

  this is lit, @johnschulman2 can you come back too <3

• @luke_metro @luke_metro on x

  TBPN interns working overtime today

• @gavinpurcell Gavin Purcell on x

  starting the believe that in ten years there will be only 200 people with jobs and they will just continually move between three companies

• @elenarunsnyc Elena Dyachkova on x

  This tweet alongside Fidji Simo's tweet around the move being ‘in the works for several weeks’ and alongside the rumors about OpenAI preparing to go public is insane. No dramatic ai progress, just drama

• @polynoamial Noam Brown on x

  Looking forward to having them back at @OpenAI!

• @mzeff Max Zeff on bluesky

  In a memo to staff announcing the news, OpenAI's CEO of Applications Fidji Simo said she doesn't share any of Murati's concerns over Zoph's ethics.  Zoph will report to Simo.  —  Initial scoop about Zoph's firing from @kylierobison.com.  —  Read more in WIRED: www.wired.com/story…

• r/technology r on reddit

  Mira Murati's startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is losing two of its co-founders to OpenAI

• @harrystebbings Harry Stebbings on x

  My money is on Mira Murati leaving Thinking Machines next with a rebrand to just “Machines”.

• @fleetingbits @fleetingbits on x

  some quick thoughts on barret zoph (and metz and schoenholz) going back to openai 1) barret zoph was the vice president of post-training at openai before he left for thinking machines; he left openai in september 2024 2) barret would have probably initially had options for

• @gm8xx8 @gm8xx8 on x

  Thinking Machines is moving with clarity and speed. I'm more bullish on them by the day. @soumithchintala is a rare kind of hire. The kind that quietly raises the ceiling of what a team can execute. Another strong move, IMO.

• @nikshepsvn @nikshepsvn on x

  @miramurati very curious to know why, feels like founders/founding team doesn't mean much in an AI lab nowadays, folks just join and leave like employees https://x.com/...

• @chris_j_paxton Chris Paxton on x

  Huge news for Soumith, he'll be a great CTO for leading... whatever it is Thinky does.

• @contrariancurse @contrariancurse on x

  They never have or will make anything. All will be acqui hired eventually

• @daveshapi David Shapiro on x

  Mira has altered the founding team Pray she does not alter it further

• @bilalfarooqui Bilal Farooqui on x

  What a cold opener As I understand it Barret left and was not fired Why would someone want to work for a leader who would insinuate otherwise? (Besides $$ from secondary stock sales)

• @scobleizer Robert Scoble on x

  Crazy drama in AI world today. OpenAI hired Barret, details here: https://x.com/...

• @yuchenj_uw Yuchen Jin on x

  Every frontier AI lab has lost co-founder(s): - OpenAI: 8 of 11 gone - Thinking Machines: 3 of 6 gone - SSI: 1 of 3 gone - DeepMind: 1 of 3 gone - xAI: 3 of 12 gone One exception: Anthropic. All 7 co-founders are still there. Anthropic culture is worth studying.

• @zephyr_z9 @zephyr_z9 on x

  “source close to Thinky claims Zoph was sharing confidential information with competitors.” This is absolutely crazy if tru (I personally don't believe this) The CTO sharing info with competitors He can easily get sued over it

• @andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x

  So much in-industry drama tonight. The OAI TV series will obviously end season 1 with the boardroom coup, so this is probably the dramatic climax of say ep 11, in season 3. That means we need a recognizable threat for the season finale. Episode 12: The Return of the Whale.