Barret Zoph has departed OpenAI five months after coming back to the company, according to The Verge. His latest role was head of enterprise AI sales, putting him close to one of OpenAI’s stated business priorities.
The move adds another turn to Zoph’s recent path between OpenAI and Thinking Machines Lab, the competing AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. OpenAI confirmed to The Verge that Zoph will be departing, and he posted a goodbye message in the company’s Slack channels.
A short return to OpenAI
Zoph returned to OpenAI in mid-January after serving as co-founder and CTO of Thinking Machines Lab. Soon after that return, OpenAI said he would lead its enterprise push.
That assignment mattered because OpenAI had recently said it would stop chasing so-called “side quests” and concentrate on key revenue drivers such as enterprise and coding ahead of its planned IPO. In that context, enterprise AI sales was not a peripheral post. It sat directly inside the company’s commercial focus.
Zoph did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the source article. The public record described in the report is therefore limited to OpenAI’s confirmation, his internal goodbye message, and the prior statements around his return.
Why enterprise AI made the role significant
Enterprise AI is important in the story because OpenAI had framed it as part of a sharper revenue strategy. The company’s stated shift away from “side quests” suggested a preference for areas that could support the business more directly.
Leading enterprise AI sales meant working on how OpenAI’s technology reaches companies, teams, and business users. The source does not detail Zoph’s specific sales plans, customers, or internal targets, so those points remain outside the available facts. What is clear is that OpenAI itself treated enterprise and coding as key revenue drivers.
That makes the timing notable. Zoph’s departure came just five months after his return and after OpenAI had placed him in a role tied to one of its visible commercial priorities.
The Thinking Machines Lab connection
Zoph’s recent career moves are closely linked to Thinking Machines Lab. He originally left OpenAI in the fall of 2024 for Murati’s company, then departed that role abruptly in January 2026 after reports of alleged misconduct involving an undisclosed relationship with a colleague.
Murati posted on X in January that Thinking Machines Lab had “parted ways” with Zoph and that he would be replaced as CTO. After that, Zoph returned to OpenAI in mid-January.
He was not the only person to move back. In January, Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, wrote on X that she was “excited to welcome Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz back” and said the decision had “been in the works for several weeks.”
OpenAI and Thinking Machines Lab remain intertwined
The report also points to broader tension between OpenAI and Thinking Machines Lab. Murati briefly took over as CEO from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during his November 2023 ouster. During the recent OpenAI trial, Murati testified that she couldn’t trust everything Altman said.
Murati left OpenAI in September 2024 to start Thinking Machines Lab. A group of OpenAI employees followed shortly after, according to the source article. Three of them, including Zoph, returned to OpenAI together this past January.
Those overlapping histories make Zoph’s latest exit more than a routine personnel change. It touches OpenAI’s enterprise AI ambitions, the movement of senior AI talent, and the continuing relationship between OpenAI and one of its closely watched rivals.
What is known now
The confirmed facts are narrow but clear. Zoph returned to OpenAI in mid-January, was placed in charge of the enterprise push, and is now leaving after five months. OpenAI confirmed the departure to The Verge.
- Barret Zoph was OpenAI’s head of enterprise AI sales.
- He had previously been co-founder and CTO of Thinking Machines Lab.
- Thinking Machines Lab was founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
- OpenAI had identified enterprise and coding as key revenue drivers ahead of its planned IPO.
- Zoph posted a goodbye message in OpenAI’s Slack channels.
For now, the source article does not provide a replacement, a new role for Zoph, or a detailed explanation for his latest departure. The main takeaway is that OpenAI has lost the executive it had recently brought back to help lead a central part of its enterprise AI strategy.