The co-founder of a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence start-up was fired by his boss after she expressed concerns about his performance and discovered he was in a relationship with a junior employee who did not report to him, a new report claims.
Mira Murati, the CEO of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI company valued at $12 billion, fired co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Barret Zoph following a contentious meeting with him and other employees last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Zoph and two others advocated for him to have more decision-making power in that meeting, but Murati responded by asking why he hadn’t been doing his job in recent months, according to the Journal. He was reportedly fired just two days later and has since joined OpenAI, where he previously worked.
OpenAI’s CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, announced on January 14 that the company was “thrilled” to welcome Zoph.
That same day, Murati publicly announced Zoph left the company. In an internal statement, Murati told employees there were issues with Zoph’s performance and conduct, according to the Journal.
Zoph told the Journal he was fired “only after it learned I would be leaving the company” and said the company never cited performance issues to him.
“At no time did [Thinking Machines Lab] cite to me any performance reasons or any unethical conduct on my part as the reason for my termination and any suggestion otherwise is false and defamatory,” he said.
Murati had expressed concerns about his productivity in recent months, after discovering last summer he was dating a junior colleague who did not report to him, the outlet’s sources said. While Zoph initially denied the relationship, they both later confirmed it, the outlet reports.
The woman, who was not named, reportedly left the company and returned to OpenAI, where their relationship initially began.
Zoph told his boss he was manipulated into the relationship by the woman, and afterward took a break from work, the Journal’s sources said. When he returned in July, he was in a new technical contributor role with fewer responsibilities, according to the outlet.
Zoph told the Journal it’s common for managers to return to individual contributor work. Zoph said he worked as a contributor for two months, participated in several projects and took time off in the winter due to an illness and death in his family.
The Independent has contacted Thinking Machines Lab, Zoph and OpenAI for comment.
