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AI Talent Wars: Ex-OpenAI Exec's Startup Sees More Departures
21 Feb
Summary
- Top executive Jolene Parish rejoined OpenAI after a stint at Thinking Machines Lab.
- Barret Zoph, co-founder and CTO, departed in January 2026 over alleged misconduct.
- Thinking Machines Lab, founded by Mira Murati, raised $2 billion in seed funding.
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI venture founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is facing a wave of high-profile departures. Most recently, top executive Jolene Parish left the company to rejoin OpenAI, where she previously worked for three years. Parish's move escalates the ongoing talent competition between Murati's startup and her former firm.
This exodus follows the January 2026 departure of co-founder and CTO Barret Zoph. Murati announced Zoph's exit citing performance issues and "unethical conduct," including a workplace relationship. OpenAI disputed some of these claims internally. Zoph was soon followed by co-founder Luke Metz and researcher Sam Schoenholz, all returning to OpenAI.
Further bolstering OpenAI's team, researchers Lia Guy and Ian O'Connell have also reportedly left Thinking Machines Lab recently, with some heading back to their former employer. The startup, focused on multimodal AI, had secured a substantial $2 billion seed round in July 2025, valuing it at $12 billion.
The repeated poaching of key talent, especially original OpenAI employees, highlights the intense rivalry in the AI sector. These departures significantly strengthen OpenAI while placing considerable pressure on the relatively new Thinking Machines Lab, less than a year after its launch.
