In 2025, Meta has intensified its pursuit to lead the global artificial intelligence (AI) sector by reorganizing its entire AI division, leading to the establishment of Superintelligence Labs. The company has also begun offering substantial eight-figure salaries in a bid to attract talent from competitors. This recruitment strategy has proven effective, with Meta successfully luring employees from high-profile firms such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic.
Meta’s strategy targets experienced researchers and engineers, pivotal to projects that compete directly with its own AI offerings. By acquiring this talent, Meta not only enhances its capabilities but also diminishes its competitors, leveraging a familiar strategy within Silicon Valley.
However, a recent report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that CEO Mark Zuckerberg unexpectedly pursued an acquisition of a startup that had yet to launch any products or directly rival Meta. Despite the lack of a market-ready technology, Zuckerberg’s interest in the startup led him to propose a buyout, which the co-founder and CEO declined.
Following this setback, Zuckerberg shifted his focus towards the startup’s 50 employees, reportedly offering lucrative compensation packages to entice them to join Meta. According to sources, the company extended an astonishing $1 billion offer—comprising bonuses and stock performance—to the other co-founder, Andrew Tulloch.
Ultimately, Tulloch and the rest of the employees rejected these offers. This incident is noted as a significant setback for Meta in its aggressive efforts to secure AI talent, largely centered on Mira Murati, the CEO of the Thinking Machines Lab.
Who Is Mira Murati?
Mira Murati, born in 1988 in Albania, later moved to Canada for her education before relocating to the United States. She holds dual degrees: a Bachelor of Arts from Colby College (2011) and a Bachelor of Engineering from Dartmouth College (2012). Her career began at Tesla, where she worked as a product manager for the Model X, followed by a brief tenure at the augmented reality firm Leap Motion. She joined OpenAI in 2018 and was promoted to Vice President of Applied AI and Partnerships by 2020.
In May 2022, Murati was appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO), supervising the development of influential OpenAI products such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, Codex, and Sora. She emerged as a prominent advocate for AI safety and aligning large language models with human values.
Her prominence increased in November 2023 when she briefly served as interim CEO of OpenAI after Sam Altman’s removal but was replaced after just three days. Following Altman’s reinstatement, Murati resumed her role as CTO until stepping down in September 2024 to establish Thinking Machines Lab in February 2025.
This startup, structured as a public benefit corporation, has yet to unveil a product. Nevertheless, its website outlines a mission dedicated to fostering human-AI collaboration through the development of flexible, adaptable, and personalized systems that function alongside people.
Despite operating in relative secrecy, Thinking Machines Lab secured $2 billion in initial funding, led by firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, AMD, and Cisco.
By moving away from OpenAI and turning down one of the AI sector’s most aggressive recruitment efforts, Murati is now wholly focused on Thinking Machines Lab, which continues to attract substantial investment and talent. Although the specifics of the startup’s endeavors remain under wraps, such discretion in Silicon Valley often suggests significant potential.
