Soumith Chintala, an Indian-origin artificial intelligence expert and one of the key creators of the popular deep-learning framework PyTorch, has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI research company co-founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati. The appointment comes after the departure of the company’s previous CTO, Barret Zoph, and marks a major leadership move for the fast-growing AI startup.
Murati welcomed Chintala’s appointment, describing him as a highly respected technologist who has played a crucial role in shaping modern AI research over the past decade. Chintala had joined Thinking Machines Lab in November 2025 as a senior technical member and has now been promoted to lead the company’s overall technology and research direction. As CTO, he will be responsible for strengthening the firm’s engineering team and guiding the development of advanced AI systems.
Soumith Chintala was born and raised in Hyderabad. He completed his schooling at Hyderabad Public School and later earned a Bachelor of Technology degree in Information Technology from the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Tamil Nadu, in 2009. After moving to the United States, he pursued a Master’s degree in Computer Science at New York University, where he worked under renowned AI scientist Yann LeCun and focused on deep learning research.
Chintala spent more than a decade at Meta (formerly Facebook), where he rose to senior leadership positions, including Vice President and Distinguished Engineer. During his time at Meta AI Research, he co-created PyTorch, an open-source machine learning framework that is now widely used by researchers, startups, and large technology companies across the world. PyTorch is considered one of the most influential tools in the rapid growth of artificial intelligence in recent years.
Despite his success, Chintala’s journey was not without challenges. He has previously spoken about facing several job rejections early in his career, highlighting the persistence and resilience that shaped his professional path.
His appointment as CTO of Thinking Machines Lab is seen as a significant step for the company as it aims to build cutting-edge, responsible AI technologies. It also stands as an inspiring milestone for Indian students and engineers aspiring to make a global impact in the field of artificial intelligence.