After abruptly leaving OpenAI last fall, former chief technology officer Mira Murati disappeared from public view to start a new job. Now, she's ready to share some details about what she's working on.
Her new AI startup is called ThinkingMachinesLab, and while the specifics of what the company plans to release remain under wraps, the company says its goal is to "make AI systems more widely understood, customizable, and universally capable." The startup also promises to regularly release technical research results and code, ensuring at least a certain level of transparency.
The company says it is building products that help humans work with artificial intelligence, rather than fully autonomous systems. "We are building a future where everyone has access to the knowledge and tools to use AI to meet their unique needs and goals," the press release said.
Mulati has been working to build an artificial intelligence dream team for the startup. She recently hired OpenAI co-founder John Schulman as director of research.
Another former OpenAI leader, BarrettZoph, is the chief technology officer of her startup. Schulman has been actively helping to assemble the team, meeting with researchers just blocks from OpenAI’s headquarters. Jonathan Lachman, who leads OpenAI's special projects department, also jumped ship to join Mulati's company. In total, she poached about 10 top researchers and engineers from elite artificial intelligence labs such as OpenAI, Character.AI and Google DeepMind.