A co-founder of a Silicon Valley AI startup worth about $12 billion has been fired after months of internal upheaval, which reportedly started with a secret workplace relationship and later spiraled into clashes over leadership and control.
Barret Zoph, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Thinking Machines Lab, was fired last Wednesday after a heated meeting with CEO Mira Murati, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report says Murati had raised serious concerns about his behavior, reliability, and job performance. Zoph also reportedly told Murati that he had been in a romantic relationship with a junior employee that began when they were both at their former workplace, OpenAI.
A Secret Affair and Firing
Murati had begun to suspect the relationship as far back as last summer, according to The Wall Street Journal. Zoph initially denied his affair, but weeks later, he and the woman admitted to their relationship to Murati. Shortly after that disclosure, the woman left the company and returned to OpenAI.
Although she was junior to Zoph, the report said that she did not report directly to him. Zoph later told the newspaper that he believes he was ultimately fired after Murati found out he had been in talks with another company about a potential job.
"Thinking Machines Lab terminated my employment only after it learned I would be leaving the company. Full stop," he told The Journal.
"At no time did TML cite to me any performance reasons or any unethical conduct on my part as the reason for my termination and any suggestion otherwise is false and defamatory."
Like the woman he was reportedly involved with, Zoph has since returned to OpenAI. She was not identified in the article.
What began as fallout from the relationship eventually grew into broader tensions over leadership and control at the company.
Earlier this month, Zoph and two colleagues challenged Murati in a meeting, voicing opposition to the company's direction and pressing for Zoph to gain more authority over technical decisions — including a proposal that senior executives report to him rather than to Murati, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Leadership Clash
Murati pushed back on those demands, pointing to concerns about Zoph's productivity in recent months, The Wall Street Journal reported. Company leaders had noticed a steep drop in his engagement after he lost his management responsibilities, including far less activity on Slack, the firm's main internal communication tool.
The turmoil didn't stop there. According to the report, Thinking Machines Lab co-founder Luke Metz and founding researcher Sam Schoenholz also exited the startup and returned to OpenAI. In October, another co-founder, Andrew Tulloch, left to rejoin Meta Platforms.
Thinking Machines Lab was launched last year by Murati along with a group of former OpenAI executives and researchers. The company quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched AI startups.
The company stunned Silicon Valley by raising a record $2 billion in seed funding at a $12 billion valuation, selling investors on a vision of building more customizable and transparent AI systems.
However, the wave of exits has dramatically reshaped the startup. Fewer than a year after its launch, only three of the original six founders remain — a sign of just how fierce the battle for top AI talent has become, and how even the most well-funded newcomers can quickly face instability.
