Discussion

• @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…

• @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.

• @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…

• @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.

• @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)

• @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.

• @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/...

• @tszzl Roon on x

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

• @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

• @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.

• @harrystebbings Harry Stebbings on x

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

• @daveshapi David Shapiro on x

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

• @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]

• @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)

• @alexeheath Alex Heath on x

  AI labs are nothing without their people

• @scobleizer Robert Scoble on x

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

• @daniel_mac8 Dan McAteer on x

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

• @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

• @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…

• r/technology r on reddit

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

• @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)

• @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

• @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]

• @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

• @barret_zoph Barret Zoph on x

  Super excited to join the team!

• @polynoamial Noam Brown on x

  Looking forward to having them back at @OpenAI!

• @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

• @alexeheath Alex Heath on x

  Sources: More Thinking Machines employees are in the process of joining OpenAI after three of the startup's co-founders (all ex-OA) rejoined yesterday (More in the newsletter later today)

• @kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x

  Back to OpenAI - again Two technical staffers are exiting Thinking Machines Lab, continuing a surprising wave of departures just days after senior leaders also headed back to OpenAI. AI researcher Lia Guy is returning to OpenAI, while infrastructure engineer Ian O'Connell has [im…

• @scobleizer Robert Scoble on x

  A plunder is underway. This feels like when Bill Gates hired away Borland's best engineers.

• @ns123abc Nik on x

  🚨🚨BREAKING: TWO MORE DEPARTURES FROM THINKING MACHINES >Ian O'Connell (infra engineer) >Lia Guy (researcher, model architectures) RETURNING TO OPENAI... [image]

• @jasonbotterill @jasonbotterill on x

  Yeeeah I highly suspect Thinking Machines just wanted to save face by terminating Zoph for being “unethical” since he was the CTO and its kind of embarrassing to have him just announce a departure back to OpenAI.

• @bindureddy Bindu Reddy on x

  OpenAI is back 😃 Three AI researchers who left OpenAI to start Thinking Machines just boomeranged back Bullish about GPT 5.5

• @jessfraz Jessie Frazelle on x

  I think it says a lot about Thinking Machines that Mira replaced the CTO role right away versus doing it herself for a bit. Just weird to me she wouldn't be like “you know what that failed the first time I'll really wait and think on it this time.” But to each their own

• @thevyasamit Amit Vyas on x

  @ns123abc @thinkymachines Sometimes I wonder what did they pitch to investors? So many people from top AI labs after gaining some years of experience, went straight to start their own something and almost everyone got funded pretty easily.

• @ns123abc Nik on x

  BREAKING: Mira Murati's Thinking Machines employees are all going back to OpenAI >3 co-founders rejoined OAI yesterday >more employees are joining today >50% of founding technical leadership now gone so over for thinking machines [image]

• @signulll @signulll on x

  the thinking machines situation is an unintentional tell about anthropic where not a single cofounder or high salience figure has visibly departed. there have been ~ zero dramatic exits. yes, anthropic liquidity has been low but vesting has no impact on that. regardless if you

• @fidjissimo Fidji Simo on x

  Fidji Simo says Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz have returned to OpenAI from Thinking Machines Lab and “this has been in the works for several weeks”

• @alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x

  The VCs who poured $2B into Thinking Machines pre-launch are probably not having fun rn 😳

• r/claudexplorers r on reddit

  An OpenAI safety research lead departed for Anthropic