Thinking Machines, the AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati

i remember this announcement way back when, but @sps mentioned today they’re finally launching some interesting tech…

Here are the key details regarding the launch and company status as of May 12, 2026:

• Core Product: “Interaction Models”

  • Thinking Machines is launching a new class of models, specifically TML-Interaction-Small , designed for native, real-time interaction rather than the traditional turn-based (user talks, waits, AI talks) approach.

  • The models feature high responsiveness, with a reported 0.40-second latency, aimed at creating a “full-duplex” conversational experience.

  • The system includes “time awareness,” allowing the AI to understand contextual, temporal commands (e.g., “let me know if this takes longer than last time”).

• Launch Strategy

  • The models are currently in a limited “research preview” for partners.

  • A broader public rollout of the interaction models is planned for later in 2026.

• Company Context & Leadership

  • Founded in February 2025 by Mira Murati, the company is focused on building AI with human-like, real-time, interactive capabilities, often described as a step toward the AI shown in the movie Her.

  • Following the departure of early co-founders, including former CTO Barret Zoph who returned to OpenAI, Murati has appointed Soumith Chintala , a former Meta AI researcher and creator of the PyTorch framework, as the new CTO.

• Mission & Approach

  • Thinking Machines aims to build models that serve unique user needs by focusing on human-AI collaboration and open science.

  • The company is focusing on “learning, adaptation, and self-improvement” to enable models to act as “general purpose learners” rather than just massive language engines.

• Funding

  • Despite early internal turmoil, the company has secured significant funding, with reports of a massive $2 billion seed round in 2025, heavily backed by investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

The company aims to shift the AI industry away from static, text-based LLMs toward proactive, conversational agents. [1, 2]

Thinking Machines Co-founders Head to OpenAI, Zuckerberg’s AI Warning | Jan 15, 2026

The Verge – 11 May 26

Here’s what Mira Murati’s AI company is up to

Thinking Machines is showing off something called “interaction models.”