Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI and a pivotal force behind transformative products like ChatGPT and DALL·E, has officially unveiled her latest venture: Thinking Machines Lab. Founded in February 2025, the startup is already generating significant buzz in the AI community, thanks to its bold vision, elite team, and headline-making fundraising goals.
According to insiders, Thinking Machines Lab is currently seeking over $2 billion in seed funding a figure that, if secured, would set a new record for early-stage investment in the artificial intelligence space. Backed by Murati’s sterling reputation and groundbreaking work at OpenAI, the venture is attracting keen interest from major investors and venture capital firms.
Murati’s track record speaks volumes. After joining OpenAI in 2018, she quickly ascended to the role of CTO by 2022 and played a key role in launching products that redefined the industry, including ChatGPT, Codex, and Sora. Her brief tenure as interim CEO during OpenAI’s high-profile leadership transition in late 2023 only solidified her standing as one of the most influential figures in AI today.
Now, she’s setting her sights on a new frontier.
“AI development needs a reset,” Murati emphasized during a private investor presentation. “We’re building systems that don’t just perform well they must integrate safely and ethically into the fabric of society.”
At its core, Thinking Machines Lab is focused on creating AI systems that are customizable, transparent, and aligned with human values. The startup emphasizes ethical integration, open collaboration, and safety an intentional pivot from the often closed, proprietary approaches seen in big tech.
The founding team includes 38 members, with 19 former OpenAI colleagues among them underscoring the deep trust and shared mission among Murati and her early collaborators.
Initial product directions suggest the company is working on highly personalized AI assistants capable of serving across creative, technical, and operational domains. These tools are being designed with modularity and seamless enterprise integration in mind, allowing for flexible deployment across a wide range of industries.
With this bold launch, Mira Murati isn’t just joining the AI startup race she’s setting the pace. If Thinking Machines Lab secures its targeted $2 billion seed round, it will go down as one of the largest in tech history, and likely redefine what early stage innovation in AI looks like.
