Albanian-American tech visionary Mira Murati, who was behind some of the most significant breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, is back on spotlight. The former OpenAI CTO has reportedly rejected a lush $1 billion offer from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.

As per a report by Wired, Mira Murati’s AI startup Thinking Machines Lab was offered $1 billion by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to join its AI Superintelligence team.

“So far at Thinking Machines Lab, not a single person has taken the offer,” Murati was quoted as saying by the outlet.

According to the report, Mira Murati’s team members were offered packages that ranged between $200 to $1 billion — every single one of which was rejected as employees refused to join the Meta Superintelligence Lab.

Who is Mira Murati?

Mira Murati, a trailblazer in the advancement of AI, was born in Albania in 1988. At the age of 16, Mira Murati received a scholarship to attend high school at Pearson United World College of the Pacific on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Mira Murati has two undergraduate degrees — Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Colby College and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Dartmouth College.

Before joining OpenAI, Murati held various roles in pioneering companies like Goldman Sachs, Zodiac Aerospace, and Tesla. According to her LinkedIn profile, Mira Murati joined Sam Altman’s OpenAI in 2018.

She was named the Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI quickly, and is credited with leading key projects like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Codex — technologies that have changed the world.

Mira Murati also became a CEO of OpenAI for three days after Sam Altman was removed from the post following a boardroom drama at the company. He was reinstated five days later, following which Murati returned to her role at CTO of OpenAI.

Murati, who started Thinking Machines after an abrupt exit from OpenAI last September, is among a growing list of former executives from the ChatGPT maker who have launched AI startups.

Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, said earlier this month that it has raised $2 billion in funding.