Meta Recruits Fifth Founding Member from Thinking Machines Lab Amid AI Talent Surge

Joshua Gross joins Meta Superintelligence Labs from Thinking Machines Lab. Meta has now hired five founding members from the $12B AI startup.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 16, 2026, 10:08 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Business Insider

The Ongoing Exodus of Founding Personnel

Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup launched by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is facing a sustained wave of poaching from established Silicon Valley firms. Joshua Gross, a veteran software engineer responsible for shipping the startup's flagship "Tinker" product, has officially rejoined Meta. Gross now leads engineering teams at Meta Superintelligence Labs, adding to a growing list of founding members who have migrated to the social media conglomerate.

Escalating Competition for Specialized Engineers

The departure of Gross follows the earlier hiring of Thinking Machines cofounder Andrew Tulloch by Meta. The startup has become a central battleground in the industry’s broader talent wars, with large tech companies leveraging vast resources to secure high level AI expertise. Other founding members have moved to rival OpenAI, including former CTO Barret Zoph and cybersecurity specialist Jolene Parish, illustrating the intense mobility within the San Francisco AI ecosystem.

Aggressive Recruitment and Rapid Scaling

Despite the high profile departures, Thinking Machines Lab remains a significant draw for elite talent and has expanded its staff to approximately 130 people. The startup made a significant executive move by replacing its CTO with Soumith Chintala, the creator of the PyTorch open source project and a former Meta employee. Additionally, the firm recently hired Neal Wu, a highly decorated competitive programmer, as it continues to build out its technical core.