Who is Mira Murati? Founder of 'Thinking Machines Lab' who turned down Zuckerberg's $1 billion offer to join Meta AI
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Who is Mira Murati? Founder of 'Thinking Machines Lab' who turned down Zuckerberg's $1 billion offer to join Meta AI")
File photo of Mira Murati. Photograph: (AFP)
Before launching her AI startup, ‘Thinking Machines Lab,' in February 2025, Mira Murati was employed as CTO of OpenAI. Her work helped bring generative AI into the mainstream, which led to a series of innovations across the world.
A few days ago, the Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approached Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI and now the founder of the AI startup ‘Thinking Machines Lab,’ with an offer to acquire her startup for $1 billion. Instead of this handsome offer, Murati turned it down. In response, Zuckerberg launched a full-scale raid to recruit her top talent.
One of the biggest targets of her company was Andrew Tulloch, a popular machine learning expert and cofounder of Thinking Machines, who was offered $1.5 billion over six years. But Tulloch also refused the extraordinary offer.
Who is Mira Murati?
She is an Albanian-American engineer, business executive, and leading figure in the artificial intelligence field who is widely known as the former chief technology officer at OpenAI, where she played a key role in the development of ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Codex systems.
Later, she resigned from OpenAI in September 2024 and subsequently founded Thinking Machines Lab, an AI public benefit corporation based in San Francisco, in February 2025. Her work helped bring generative AI into the mainstream, leading a series of innovations globally across industries from education and healthcare to design and coding.
After the launch of 'Thinking Machines' in 2025, the platform quickly emerged as one of the most-watched AI startups. The company recently raised a stunning $2 billion seed round at a valuation nearing $12 billion, led by Andreessen Horowitz, despite not launching a single product yet.
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What is Mira Murati’s net worth in 2025?
The estimated net worth of Mira Murati is approximately $1.4 billion, primarily driven by her 14 per cent equity stake in her AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab. Her company achieved a valuation of $10–12 billion after a major funding round in July 2025, according to a report in Finance Monthly.
Why did Mira Murati reject Mark Zuckerberg’s $1 billion offer?
Mira Murati rejected Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's $1 billion offer, as she and her team at the Thinking Machines Lab prioritised independence, long-term vision, and the potential impact of their mission over immediate financial gain. Her startup focused on creating customizable, interpretable, and widely accessible AI systems that could redefine the AI landscape.
