In a significant development at Mira Murati's AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, Soumith Chintala, an Indian-origin computer scientist, has been appointed as the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Chintala, renowned as the co-creator of PyTorch, will be stepping into the role previously held by Barret Zoph, who recently parted ways with the company.

Mira Murati, the CEO of Thinking Machines Lab and former CTO of OpenAI, announced Chintala's appointment, describing him as "a brilliant and seasoned leader who has made important contributions to the AI field for over a decade". Murati highlighted Chintala's significant contributions to the team since he joined Thinking Machines Lab in November 2025 as a member of the technical staff.

Chintala's rise to CTO comes at a time of considerable change for Thinking Machines Lab. Zoph's departure was accompanied by the exit of another co-founder, Luke Metz, and researcher Sam Schoenholz; all three are returning to OpenAI. This exodus follows Andrew Tulloch's departure in October 2025, who joined Meta. The shift in personnel underscores the intense competition for AI talent in Silicon Valley and the challenges faced by startups in retaining key team members.

Soumith Chintala's background is deeply rooted in the world of artificial intelligence. Born and raised in Hyderabad, India, he overcame early struggles with mathematics to develop a strong interest in computers and problem-solving. He holds a B.Tech degree in Information Technology from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and an MS in Computer Science from New York University, where he conducted deep learning research under the guidance of Yann LeCun.

Before joining Thinking Machines Lab, Chintala spent 11 years at Meta, formerly Facebook, where he made his mark as a leading AI engineer. His most notable achievement is co-creating PyTorch, an open-source deep learning framework that has become a cornerstone of modern AI research and development worldwide. His expertise also includes advanced AI algorithms and open-source machine learning software, and he has experience leading large engineering and product teams.

Thinking Machines Lab, founded by Mira Murati in February 2025, has quickly gained attention and substantial funding. The company secured $2 billion in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia, AMD, and Jane Street, valuing the company at $12 billion. Thinking Machines Lab aims to develop AI systems that are more widely understood, customizable, and generally capable.

The departure of key personnel like Zoph, Metz and Schoenholz represents a notable setback for Thinking Machines Lab. However, the appointment of Soumith Chintala as CTO signals the company's confidence in its internal talent and its commitment to continue pushing the boundaries of AI development.