Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Former OpenAI CTO Mulati has joined forces with a number of "old school" executives to start a new AI company. Startups.
The company is called Thinking Machines Lab, is committed to developing AI models and products that support broader collaboration between humans and AI, aiming to reach a wide range of industries. "While existing systems excel in programming and math, we are developing an AI that can adapt to a variety of human specialties and support a wider range of applications."
Other core members of Mulati's team include John Schulman, an OpenAICo-FounderHe will be working at Thinking Machines Lab asChief ScientistOpenAI Former Vice President of Research Barret Zoph will be the new company'sChief Technology OfficerThe blog post mentions that the current team has nearly 30 employees; and Lai Weng, former VP of Security at OpenAI. As mentioned in the blog post, the current team of nearly 30 employees includesMore than ten people have worked at OpenAI.
Since Mulati left OpenAI last September, what his new company will do and how much money it will raise has become a hot topic in Silicon Valley circles. Sources familiar with the matter have revealed that Mulati is in talks with venture capital firms about raising money.
While Thinking Machines Lab has yet to launch any specific products or models, the company says its philosophy is different from other AI companies. According to the blog post, researchers and product leaders will collaborate on designs to ensure that AI systemsEasier to understand, more customizable, and more versatile.
"Unlike simply pursuing the quest to build fully automated AI systems, we're more excited about building systems that are capable ofMultimodal systems that collaborate with humans." The company says that refers to AI models that can work across multiple mediums such as text, audio, and video.
The company is currently developing a series of new AI models designed to drive breakthroughs in science and programming. In the meantime, Thinking Machines Lab is still hiring a variety of talent, particularly in machine learning and research management.
Born in Albania and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Mulati joined OpenAI in 2018 and was promoted to Chief Technology Officer in 2022. During her time at OpenAI, she led several major product releases, including the popular ChatGPT and Voice Mode -- a feature that allows users to have near real-time conversations with AI. She also managed OpenAI's technical team.
At one point in late 2023, OpenAI CEO Ortmann was ousted by the board of directors, and Muratti was named interim CEO during that time, but she soon joined the executive team that supported Ortmann's reinstatement.
The year after Altman's reinstatement, OpenAI saw a wave of departures from a number of executives, including Mulati and other top executives who started their own AI companies.
For example, OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Sutcliffe launched Safe Superintelligence in June of this year, a research lab dedicated to building safe and powerful AI systems. Sutcliffe is currently in the process of raising more than $1 billion for his new company, which is valued at more than $30 billion (note: currently around 217.912 billion yuan).
