Mira Murati, the Albanian-American tech visionary and former CTO of OpenAI, is back in the spotlight after reportedly turning down a $1 billion offer from Meta. According to Wired, Mark Zuckerberg approached Murati’s new AI venture, Thinking Machines Lab, with the lucrative proposal to join Meta’s newly launched Superintelligence team. Despite Meta’s aggressive push to assemble a world-class AI dream team, Murati declined the offer, signaling both her confidence in her independent vision and her standing as one of the most sought-after minds in artificial intelligence.
Meta approached more than a dozen staffers at Mira Murati’s AI startup to discuss joining its new superintelligence lab. One received an offer for more than $1 billion. https://t.co/FbOk8bgCpt
— WIRED (@WIRED) July 29, 2025
Murati revealed that not a single team member at her AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, has accepted Meta’s offer to join its Superintelligence Lab. According to the report, Meta extended individual packages ranging from $200,000 to a staggering $1 billion, but every offer was declined, with Murati’s team standing firm in their decision to stay independent.
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For the unversed, Mira Murati, a pioneering figure in the field of artificial intelligence, was born in Albania in 1988. At 16, she earned a scholarship to attend Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada. Academically gifted, she went on to earn dual undergraduate degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Colby College and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Dartmouth College.
Mira Murati turned down a $1B offer from Meta.
Her whole team said no too.
Why? Because they believe more in her vision than a paycheck.
She’s not just building AI. She’s building AI that matters.#MiraMurati #AI #ThinkingMachinesLab #TechForGood pic.twitter.com/w2z0xPNJkC
— Mohamed Omar (@realmbomar) July 31, 2025
Before her transformative work at OpenAI, Murati built her career through roles at major companies like Goldman Sachs, Zodiac Aerospace, and Tesla. She joined OpenAI in 2018 and quickly rose to become Chief Technology Officer. Under her leadership, OpenAI launched groundbreaking tools like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Codex. In a brief leadership twist, she served as interim CEO for three days during Sam Altman’s temporary ousting, before returning to her CTO position when he was reinstated.
Following her departure from OpenAI in September last year, Murati founded Thinking Machines Lab, an ambitious AI startup. The company recently made headlines for raising $2 billion in funding, placing Murati among a wave of former OpenAI leaders now launching their own ventures in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
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