Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab loses another top exec to former boss Sam Altman's OpenAI, adding to the 'public spat'

Mira Murati's AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, has lost yet another top executive to OpenAI. According to a Business Insider report, the latest employee to go back to the ChatGPT maker is Jolene Parish, who joined Thinking Machines Lab in April 2025. According to her LinkedIn profile, Parish has worked with OpenAI for 3 years. Before OpenAI, she was with iPhone maker Apple for 10 years.


Last month, chief technology officer of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab Barret Zoph left the company to go back to OpenAI. Murati then shared a post on microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) confirming the departure. “We have parted ways with Barret Zoph”. She continued: “Soumith Chintala will be the new CTO of Thinking Machines. He is a brilliant and seasoned leader who has made important contributions to the AI field for over a decade, and he’s been a major contributor to our team. We could not be more excited to have him take on this new responsibility,” she then wrote.


Zoph was then joined by Luke Metz and Sam Schoenholz to leave the AI startup and go back to OpenAI.

Talent wars between OpenAI and Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab

As stated above, OpenAI has poached three founding members from Thinking Machines Lab – in what appears to be a calculated strike against a rising competitor. Zoph’s departure in January wasn't clean. Murati reportedly told staff she had terminated Zoph's employment over "unethical conduct," though OpenAI disputed these concerns in an internal memo. According to reporting by Wired and the Wall Street Journal, Zoph had an undisclosed workplace relationship with another employee in a leadership role who has since left the company.


Murati confronted Zoph about the relationship last summer, sources told Wired. Their working relationship deteriorated afterward, and Zoph began speaking with competitors including Meta before ultimately choosing OpenAI. In her internal message to employees, Murati cited a history of performance and conduct issues dating back to mid-2025.