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Mira Murati, the Albanian-American engineer renowned for leading transformative advances in artificial intelligence, has once again made headlines — this time, for rejecting a multibillion-dollar offer from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. As the founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab, a rising AI startup, Murati and her entire team turned down compensation deals from Meta valued between $200 million to $1 billion, according to Wired.

Murati rose to global prominence during her time as Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI, where she oversaw the development of pioneering tools like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Codex. Her leadership not only advanced technical frontiers but also stressed responsible development and AI safety. Known internally as the intellectual core of OpenAI’s research strategy, Murati helped transition generative AI from a futuristic concept into a household utility.

“AI without values is intelligence without conscience,” Murati said during a keynote at the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos—an address that catalysed international conversations around AI ethics and governance. She has since advised the European Commission on emerging AI regulations, a role rarely held by startup founders.

Thinking Machines Lab

Founded in early 2025, Thinking Machines Lab has quickly drawn attention from both investors and competitors. Without a single product launch to date, the company secured a $2 billion seed round, valuing it close to $12 billion, led by Andreessen Horowitz. The startup’s mission is to build interpretable, customizable AI tools that remain accessible beyond traditional tech power centers.

Despite Meta’s attempt to lure away key members of her team for its new Superintelligence Lab, Murati’s group rejected the offers outright. Already recognized by Time as one of the 100 Most Influential People in AI (2024) and listed among Fortune’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Business (2023), Murati continues to shape the AI narrative.