Soumith Chintala Joins Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab
In a significant development within the fiercely competitive realm of artificial intelligence talent acquisition, Soumith Chintala, a pivotal figure at Meta and co-architect of the widely adopted PyTorch framework, has transitioned to Thinking Machines Lab.
This venture, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is making waves in the industry. Murati had previously captured headlines by declining a staggering $1 billion offer from Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
For context, Meta’s interest in Murati’s startup intensified following her refusal to sell, prompting Zuckerberg to reportedly initiate a comprehensive recruitment strategy.
As per the Wall Street Journal, he targeted over a dozen employees from Thinking Machines Lab in hopes of enticing them to join Meta.
Among those approached was Andrew Tulloch, a prominent researcher and co-founder of the startup. A recent Wired article highlighted that Thinking Machines Lab distinctly rejected Meta’s ambitious $1 billion offer intended to integrate into its Superintelligence Lab.
The offers, spanning from $200 million to $1 billion, aimed to attract leading AI researchers from Murati’s team.
Chintala Reaffirms New Role
Soumith Chintala confirmed his new appointment at Thinking Machines Lab through announcements made on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. In a reflective post, he expressed gratitude for his time at Meta, which culminated in an eleven-year tenure, nearly eight of which were devoted to spearheading the development of PyTorch.
He stated, “I’m stepping down from PyTorch and leaving Meta on November 17th. Eleven years at Meta. Almost all my professional life. Making many friends for life. Walking away from this was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But I’m leaving with a full heart.”
Meta’s Ongoing Restructuring
Chintala’s departure coincides with substantial reorganizational shifts at Meta. The parent company of Facebook has recently established a new division dedicated to AI efforts, dubbed Superintelligence Labs, under the leadership of Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI.
Furthermore, reports have emerged indicating aggressive hiring strategies targeting talent from industry competitors such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Apple.
Additionally, there are suggestions that Yann LeCun, the chief AI scientist at Meta and founder of FAIR, may also be contemplating his exit from the company.
Thinking Machines Lab Seeks New Funding
Thinking Machines Lab, the nascent AI venture helmed by Mira Murati, is reportedly engaged in preliminary discussions to secure a new funding round, potentially valuing the company at approximately $50 billion.
Bloomberg reports indicate that this new financing could significantly enhance the startup’s worth, increasing it more than fourfold since July, thereby positioning Thinking Machines among the most esteemed private companies in a mere timeframe of less than a year since its inception.
The terms surrounding this funding are still under negotiation and may fluctuate. While numerous sources suggest a target valuation of about $50 billion, others speculate it could ascend to between $55 billion and $60 billion.
Since its launch in February, the company has focused on developing AI models and tools aimed at enhancing human-AI collaboration across various sectors.
Source link: Timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
