Thinking Machines Lab is an artificial intelligence research and product company founded in February 2025 by Mira Murati, former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and focuses on building advanced AI systems that are widely understood, customizable, and broadly capable.
The company's mission emphasizes human-AI collaboration, frontier model development in domains such as science and programming, and sharing knowledge through publications and open-source contributions. Its approach combines rigorous engineering with iterative, real-world testing to advance capability while prioritizing safety.
Thinking Machines Lab raised one of the largest seed rounds in history, reportedly around two billion dollars at a multibillion-dollar valuation, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz and other major backers. The funding reflects strong confidence in its founding team despite the company's early stage.
The lab assembled a high-profile team drawn from OpenAI, Meta AI, and Mistral AI, including notable figures such as John Schulman as chief scientist and Barret Zoph as chief technology officer. This concentration of senior researchers differentiates the company within the frontier AI landscape.
Thinking Machines Lab targets researchers, developers, and organizations seeking customizable frontier AI and open research contributions. It competes with leading frontier labs in a highly capital-intensive field where talent, research output, and product delivery are central differentiators.