That relationship was likely the alleged “misconduct” that has been mentioned in prior reporting, including from WIRED.
To protect the privacy of the individuals involved, WIRED is not naming the employee involved. The person, who worked in a separate department from Zoff and was in a leadership role, is no longer at the lab.
Sources say Murati contacted Zoff to discuss the relationship. According to multiple sources, the co-founders’ working relationship broke down in the months following that conversation and Zoff began talking to competitors about other opportunities.
According to a source familiar with the matter, before Zoff left the company, he was in talks with leaders of Meta Superintelligence Labs. Zoff was eventually hired by OpenAI. OpenAI’s Applications CEO Fidzi Simo said the appointment had been in the works for several weeks. Simo also noted that she did not share Zoff’s concerns over the ethics of thinking machines.
Zof and OpenAI declined to comment for this story.
This week, Thinking Machines’ third co-founder, Luke Metz, and at least three other researchers from Murati’s startup also left for OpenAI. In October, the startup’s co-founder Andrew Tulloch left for Meta.
Although tensions between Murati and Zoff have reached a fever pitch in recent days, they do not fully explain the mass exodus of Thinking Machines employees.
WIRED previously reported that there was confusion within Thinking Machines about what the startup should create.
In November, Murati’s startup was reportedly looking to raise capital at a valuation of $50 billion, up from its current valuation of $12 billion.
Thinking Machines Lab declined to comment for this story.
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