She Left OpenAI to Build the Company That Will Beat Them

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Top 3 Things in Today’s Latestly AI Edition

1. OpenAI inks $38B AWS deal, biggest cloud agreement yet for AI scale.

2. EU moves to weaken AI Act and ease GDPR rules to boost AI industry.

3. Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s startup rockets to $12B valuation within 8 months.

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AI Story – Mira Murati: Rocketing From OpenAI CTO to AI’s Boldest Solo Act

When Mira Murati quietly stepped down as OpenAI’s CTO in September 2024, industry insiders expected her to resurface at another tech titan or maybe take a sabbatical. Instead, she spent three months assembling what would become Thinking Machines Lab, the fastest-growing AI company ever.

From the first lines of code in February 2025, the company operated in stealth, focusing on automating R&D workflows for large enterprises using AI agents not just to generate code, but to originate, test, and validate radical new ideas in engineering, manufacturing, and biotech.

Her playbook: recruit top researchers burned out by “LLM race” hype, keep team size lean, and ship products that speed up real-world innovation, not just digital conversations.

What’s Thinking Machines Lab Doing?

• Autonomous R&D: Proprietary AI models simulate and run experiments, helping Fortune 500 clients cut years off product cycles.

• AI Super-Orchestration: Their platform stitches different models and APIs together; routing LLMs, vision, and planning modules to the most relevant use case, managed by a single interface.

• Rapid Scale: After a $2B July 2025 seed round, the largest ever, Murati led TML to a $12B valuation by October, breaking every fundraising and growth metric in the sector. 

Why It Matters?

• Speed rewrites the rules: Murati’s journey from zero to $12B took 8 months in a space where even “unicorns” used to take years.

• AI for real-world breakthroughs: By going beyond text and image generation to automating scientific discovery, TML threatens to upend multiple industries at once.

• Founder-driven trust: Dozens of OpenAI and DeepMind alumni followed Murati thanks to her vision, discipline, and reputation for shipping real impact.

Lessons for AI Founders

• Don’t fear incumbents: Murati left OpenAI at its valuation peak to compete directly and won trust by focusing on industry pain, not hype cycles.

• Move faster by staying smaller: TML kept a sub-80-person headcount until Series B, proving that smaller, focused teams can outship “AI giants.”

• Platform, not point solution: Their edge is in how different models and workflows are orchestrated together, not just the next flashy model.

What to Watch?

• Will Thinking Machines Lab become the go-to “AI engine” for science, or will incumbents catch up?

• Can Murati’s engineering-led culture persist as the company scales past $12B?

• With rumors of cross-industry partnerships (from pharma to aerospace), is TML on track for an IPO or “AI as utility” status?

With the fastest 0-to-$12B journey ever, Mira Murati’s new chapter isn’t just about scale but about building AI infrastructure for the scientific revolutions to come.

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Global AI News Highlights (Nov 4 - Nov 11)

🇺🇸 Americas

• OpenAI secured a $38B multi-year infrastructure deal with AWS, supporting 1M+ business customers.

• Atlantic Council convened a bipartisan GeoTech Commission to shape U.S. AI policy and global competitiveness.

• BNAI signed a $5M licensing agreement to deploy conversational AI across Latin America’s government and commercial sectors.

🇪🇺 Europe

• EU draft documents show plans to dilute the landmark AI Act to address Big Tech and U.S. government concerns.

• European Commission is relaxing GDPR rules for AI training on sensitive data and redefining personal data.

• The EU launched a €107M RAISE institute to pool AI research capabilities for breakthroughs in healthcare and science.

• Anthropic expanded into Europe with Paris and Munich offices, scaling operations and supporting 350,000+ employees via Cognizant.

🌏 APAC

• China proposed a multilateral World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO) headquartered in Shanghai to shape global AI governance.

• Singapore-based AI startups dominated regional funding with $1.31B, making Singapore the de facto APAC AI hub.

• India and Japan agreed to expand cooperation in AI, semiconductors, and clean energy with a 10 trillion yen investment target.

• Japan’s new PM unveiled a stimulus plan targeting AI, semiconductors, and quantum computing for national growth.

🌍 Africa

• Tunisia hosted GAICA 2025, bringing together 6,000+ participants and 200+ African AI startups to showcase innovation.

• Ghana hosted the first AETF AI Conference, focusing on AI’s potential in education, finance, and development.

• South Africa published its first comprehensive draft AI policy framework and opened public consultations for regulation.

• Africa’s AI market is projected to quadruple to $16.5B by 2030, driven by leadership from Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.

🇦🇺 Oceania

• Australian and NZ tech leaders meet in Sydney to draft a 2026 “AI Governance Roadmap,” naming skill shortages and regulatory gaps as top regional barriers.​

• ISACA survey finds only 8% of Oceania’s enterprises have formal AI risk management protocols, sparking an industry-wide call for urgent upskilling.

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