New Delhi, Jan. 15 -- OpenAI's gravitational pull on top AI talent is proving hard to escape. Three founding members of Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, have exited the company and returned to OpenAI, highlighting how fierce, and unforgiving, the competition for senior AI leadership has become.

The departures come even as Murati appointed Soumith Chintala, an Indian technologist and long-time AI researcher, as the startup's new Chief Technology Officer, signalling an attempt to stabilise leadership amid mounting pressure.

Thinking Machines Lab, which has yet to publicly launch a product or prototype, confirmed the exit of Barret Zoph, its co-founder and CTO. Zoph's departure follows an earlier ...