Barret Zoph Lands at Google After OpenAI Drama

Barret Zoph, co-founder of AI startup Thinking Machines, has joined Google as vice president of research after a turbulent year of job-hopping. He left OpenAI in 2024 to co-found Thinking Machines with Mira Murati, was later fired from the startup, briefly returned to OpenAI, and departed again in June 2025. Google welcomed Zoph back, citing his expertise in reinforcement learning and post-training for its Gemini models. His moves reflect broader instability in AI leadership, particularly at OpenAI, which has seen significant executive turnover as it prepares for an IPO.