Lilian Weng Leaves Thinking Machines Citing Health Reasons

APPSO · wechat · 2026-07-28

Lilian Weng, former head of OpenAI's safety team, announced her departure from Thinking Machines Lab due to health reasons. In her farewell letter, she stated that the intense workload over the past few months had severely impacted her physical well-being, expressing guilt over not being able to give her full energy to the job.

Founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, Thinking Machines recently released its first open-source model but has faced significant brain drain, including the departure of CTO Barret Zoph. Amidst the hyper-competitive AI startup race, Weng's exit highlights the immense physical and mental toll the industry's relentless pace takes on individuals.

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