Barret Zoph, OpenAI’s head of enterprise AI sales, has departed again just five months after returning to the company in mid-January, following a prior abrupt exit for alleged misconduct at Thinking Machines Lab and a recent push by OpenAI to focus on enterpri
Five months after returning to OpenAI, Barret Zoph is gone again.
Zoph, the company’s head of enterprise AI sales, departed shortly after taking on the role in mid-January. He came back after a stint as co-founder and CTO of Thinking Machines Lab, the competing AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
Right after Zoph returned. OpenAI said he would lead its push into enterprise — a major post as the company moves to concentrate on core revenue drivers like enterprise and coding ahead of its planned IPO. Zoph has now left that effort behind. OpenAI confirmed his departure, and he posted a goodbye message in the company’s Slack channels.
Zoph did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
His second exit comes after a first, earlier fracture with OpenAI’s orbit. Zoph originally left OpenAI in the fall of 2024 for Thinking Machines Lab. Then. in January 2026. he departed Thinking Machines Lab abruptly amid reports of alleged misconduct involving an undisclosed relationship with a colleague. Murati posted on X that Thinking Machines Lab had “parted ways” with Zoph and that he would be replaced as CTO.
The ripple effects have been hard to contain. Thinking Machines Lab’s relationship with OpenAI has been strained for months, even beyond Zoph. Murati briefly took over as CEO from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during Altman’s November 2023 ouster. During the recent OpenAI trial, Murati testified that she couldn’t trust everything Altman said. When Murati left OpenAI in September 2024 to start Thinking Machines Lab, a group of OpenAI employees followed soon after.
Among those who left was Zoph — but three of them, including Zoph, returned to OpenAI together this past January. OpenAI’s CEO of Applications. Fidji Simo. wrote on X at the time that she was “excited to welcome Barret Zoph. Luke Metz. and Sam Schoenholz back. ” adding that the decision had “been in the works for several weeks.”.
Now, with Zoph out again after only five months, OpenAI’s enterprise focus — and the people tasked with driving it — has once more shifted before the company’s next big milestone.
OpenAI Barret Zoph enterprise AI sales Thinking Machines Lab Mira Murati Sam Altman Fidji Simo CTO IPO
Another person leaving OpenAI? Feels like chaos over there.
I don’t get it. Five months then gone again… like did they even let him start? Also “enterprise AI sales” sounds like sales speak for something boring.
Wait, wasn’t he the one who came back after that Thinking Machines Lab thing? I saw a post that said it was about some relationship drama but then it gets all muddled with Murati and Altman and trial testimony. Seems like every time they get close to IPO someone trips and leaves.
The headline says misconduct but nobody says what it was, so everyone just fills in the blanks. Enterprise push, coding focus, IPO… meanwhile dude is bouncing between companies like it’s a revolving door. Kinda wild to me that Murati testified she couldn’t trust Altman too, like ok then why is any of this surprising? Also who even knows if it’s real misconduct or just HR stuff.