Dansday
For years, Microsoft and OpenAI have been nearly inseparable. Billions of dollars in investment and deep product integration turned the partnership into one of the defining alliances of the AI era.
Now, Microsoft appears to be hedging its bets.
On 10 July 2026, reports emerged that the company had joined a funding round for Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati. The investment places Microsoft alongside several major technology investors backing one of the industry's most closely watched new companies. The round reportedly values the startup at more than $10 billion, despite it remaining in the early stages of product development.
Murati left OpenAI in 2025 after helping oversee the development of GPT-4 and other flagship AI systems. Her new company has kept a relatively low profile, but expectations have remained high thanks to the experience of its leadership team, which includes several former OpenAI researchers and engineers.
Microsoft's participation doesn't signal an end to its OpenAI partnership. Instead, analysts see it as a strategic move to diversify its AI investments while gaining exposure to another team capable of building frontier AI models. As competition intensifies, relying on a single partner could become increasingly risky for companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
The funding also highlights how investors continue to place enormous value on experienced AI talent. In today's market, proven researchers are attracting multi-billion-dollar valuations long before their products reach customers, reflecting confidence that expertise itself has become one of the industry's most valuable assets.
Whether Thinking Machines Lab can challenge established AI leaders remains an open question. But with Microsoft's backing and one of the strongest engineering teams assembled outside OpenAI, the startup has immediately become one of the companies to watch in the next phase of the AI race.