Thinking Machine just hit a $10 billion valuation after closing a massive $2 billion seed funding round, one of the biggest in Silicon Valley history. The AI startup was founded by former OpenAI tech chief Mira Murati, who left OpenAI in September and launched the company this February.
Sources told the Financial Times Thinking Machine has kept its projects under wraps but leveraged Murati’s reputation to reel in investors.
Murati said at launch: 
“Our goal is simple,
advance AI
by making it broadly useful and understandable through solid foundations, open science
and practical applications.”
Before leaving OpenAI, Murati played a critical role in rolling out ChatGPT and DALL-E. She also briefly served as interim CEO during the 2023 shake-up when Sam Altman was ousted and then reinstated.
Other ex-OpenAI execs are also launching their own AI startups. That list includes Liam Fedus, who founded Periodic Labs, and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence, both raising billions for AI research.
The surge of former OpenAI talent spinning out new ventures marks a growing trend in AI beyond just big players.
Meanwhile, the AI industry shifts from flashy experiments to essential back-office tools, with AI getting more practical and measured day by day.
