Another employee from Thinking Machines Lab has left the startup to rejoin OpenAI, marking the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the $12 billion AI company. Jolene Parish, who joined Thinking Machines Lab in April of last year, is returning to OpenAI, according to her LinkedIn profile. She previously worked at OpenAI for three years before moving to Thinking Machines Lab. Her background also includes a decade of experience in security at Apple. This move follows a wave of exits from Thinking Machines Lab over the past few months. In late February, two of the company’s co-founders—Barret Zoph, former CTO, and Luke Metz—departed, along with researcher Sam Schoenholz. Lia Guy, another researcher, also rejoined OpenAI, according to The Information. Andrew Tulloch, the third co-founder, left for Meta in late 2023, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The exodus comes amid intense competition for top AI talent, with major tech companies aggressively recruiting from emerging startups. Thinking Machines Lab, led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has become a magnet for elite engineers and researchers since its launch. The company raised a $2 billion funding round last year, valuing it at $12 billion, and launched its first product, Tinker, in October. Despite its rapid growth and star-studded team—including notable hires like Neal Wu, a three-time programming Olympiad gold medalist, and Soumith Chintala, creator of PyTorch at Meta, who now serves as the company’s CTO—Thinking Machines Lab is facing growing pressure from larger rivals. OpenAI and Thinking Machines Lab have both declined to comment on the recent departures. The trend underscores the challenges faced by fast-growing AI startups in retaining top talent as bigger companies seek to strengthen their AI capabilities through strategic hiring.