Joshua Gross, a founding team member at Thinking Machines Lab, has rejoined Meta Platforms. This marks the latest senior departure from the AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
Gross, who previously worked at OpenAI and Meta, had helped build Thinking Machines Lab's flagship product “Tinker”, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has now joined Meta Superintelligence Labs, where he is leading engineering teams.
The move adds to a series of exits from Thinking Machines Lab. The startup, which raised $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation last year, has rapidly grown but is facing intense competition for AI talent.
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Meta has reportedly hired five founding members from the startup, including co-founder Andrew Tulloch, Business Insider reported on Wednesday. OpenAI has also recruited senior staff from the company.
According to Gross's LinkedIn profile, he was associated with Facebook as a senior software engineer between 2018 and 2022. In the subsequent three years, he worked as a member of technical staff for OpenAI. In February 2025, he was part of the founding team at Thinking Machines Lab.
“Engineering at Meta Superintelligence Lab, and formerly OpenAI and Thinking Machines. I'm a leader in engineering focused on building AGI,” his about section reads on the platform. His exit from Thinking Machines Lab is the latest evidence of the growing competition among US tech giants to lead the AI race.
Murati's company has also been actively hiring talent, including from rivals. After its launch, the company replaced its CTO with Meta's Soumith Chintala, the creator of the open-source AI framework PyTorch.
It also hired Neal Wu, a top competitive programmer and three-time gold medallist at a programming Olympiad, according to Business insider. The San Francisco-based startup has more than quadrupled in size to around 130 employees since its launch last year.
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Given the explosive rise of AI and the availability of a limited talent pool, companies are pouring millions into keeping top talents. Last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had tried to attract top OpenAI talent with signing bonuses of up to $100 million and even higher compensation packages.
Similarly, Google reportedly offered artificial Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan a $2.4 billion deal to join Google DeepMind. In March, reports emerged that Apple had granted stock bonuses ranging from $200,000 to $400,000 to many of its hardware designers.
These restricted stock units (RSUs) were meant to retain employees, as they vest over four years, requiring long-term commitment, according to Bloomberg.
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