Barret Zoph leaves OpenAI after five months back at the company

In short: OpenAI says Barret Zoph is leaving the company, about five months after he returned to lead its enterprise AI sales.

What happened

OpenAI confirmed to The Verge that Barret Zoph has departed. Zoph had been OpenAI’s head of enterprise AI sales, which means he was focused on selling OpenAI’s tools to businesses.

Zoph rejoined OpenAI in mid-January 2026. Before that, he worked at a competing AI company called Thinking Machines Lab, where he was a co-founder and the CTO, or chief technology officer (the person in charge of the company’s technical work). Thinking Machines Lab was founded by Mira Murati, who previously served as OpenAI’s CTO.

According to The Verge, Zoph posted a goodbye message in OpenAI’s Slack, an internal work chat tool (like a group messaging app for a company). Zoph did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zoph originally left OpenAI in fall 2024 for Thinking Machines Lab. He left that role in January 2026 after reports that alleged misconduct involving an undisclosed relationship with a colleague. Murati said in January that the company had “parted ways” with Zoph and that he would be replaced as CTO.

Why it matters

OpenAI has been putting more attention on selling to businesses, since those deals can bring in steady revenue, similar to long term contracts. Zoph was brought back to help lead that effort, so his departure adds uncertainty about who will run a key part of OpenAI’s business plans.

Source: The Verge AI